My Give A Damn’s Busted by Carolyn Brown (Honky Tonk #3) 
Contemporary Romance
October 1, 2010
Paperback, 384 Pages
Sourcebooks

Reviewed by Tori

Favorite Quote: "…Lord, he could be a serial killer and I’d still peel those jeans off that firm little hind end and enjoy doing it."

Hank Wells and Larissa Morley both want the same thing, the Honky Tonk bar.

But each keep the reason for it close to their hearts. When passions, secrets, and ulterior motives each vie for attention, it’s winner takes all at the Honky Tonk.

Larissa Morley is the fourth owner of the Honky Tonk bar. Rumor has it that each owner of the Honky Tonk finds her true love-a cowboy- a cowboy amid the sparkling glow of the jukeboxes. But Larissa isn’t having any of that. She’s happy with her life just the way it is until HE walks in. A long tall drink of water named Hank Wells. And suddenly that old rumor doesn’t seem so unbelievable anymore

Hank Wells is exactly where he wants to be. His employer wants to buy the Honky Tonk and Hank is there to find anyway or anyhow to accomplish that. But he didn’t expect to find Larissa. And he certainly didn’t expect to fall in love with her. When Larissa finds out Hanks been lying to her and trying to get her bar it becomes all out war.

When Hanks mother’s show up; they find out that neither of them have been honest with each other. Now they need to decide who they want to be and if that’s enough to keep them together.

I had a really hard time with this story. Parts of it read smooth and fast. The premise is good.  A light contemporary romance with some intrigue.

Humorous and witty. Some memorable characters that are well developed and add flair to the storyline. But the majority of the dialogue is in what I call "hillbilly speak".

Entire conversations made up of backwoods country one liners that tend to morph into cutesy antidotes. While I’m from the South, I and those I know do not speak like this. After the first few pages I was irritated. Ms Brown also spends entirely too much time in describing some scenes but leaves us with wondering in others. There is a rodeo scene that could have been wrapped up in 2-3 pages…but it runs for an entire chapter. All to establish that Larissa still loves Hank and gets jealous. With 10 plus characters in this scene, the confusion was inevitable.

About 3/4 the way through it seems to calm down and we get to see Hank and Larissa acting and speaking like real people.

There are a few side stories that leave an opening for another chapter to the Honky Tonk bar saga. We get our HEA in a nice romantic way that was plausible.

All in all its a light read but it took a lot to get through it.

Rating: 2/5

Recent Reviews:
Love Romance Passion – 5/5
My Overstuffed Bookshelf – 5/5
Goodreads

This Series Includes:
I Love This Bar
Hell Yeah
My Give A Damn’s Busted
Honky Tonk Christmas – November 2, 2010

Carolyn Brown’s Website.