His Southern Temptation by Robin Covington (The Boys are Back in Town #2)
Released: April 2013
Contemporary Romance
Entangled Publishing

Reviewed by May 

Best friend ready to kill him? Check.

Future mother-in-law who hates him? Check.

Asshole setting his truck on fire? Check.

Girlfriend ready to run for the nearest airport? Check.

His life had become a damn country song.

David “Lucky” Landon is done with his time as a Marine. He’s come home to buy his parent’s farm and live a nice quiet life. If he’s lucky, his longtime booty call, aka his best friend’s sister and the girl who has his heart Taylor Elliott will be living it with him.

This story opens as Lucky is helping a friend out doing an investigation and trying to find a missing woman. Taylor also happens to be in town (she lives in Hawaii) to help clear out and sell her parent’s house and is surprised to find Lucky staying there. So the former lovers are soon inseparable – after all they have explosive chemistry and always have.

“This isn’t going to end well.”

“So you keep saying.”

“Somebody is going to get hurt.”

“You don’t need to worry about me, I’m a big girl.”

“Maybe you’re not the one I’m worried about.”

Lucky wants more from this, he always has ever since he first hooked up with Taylor several years ago. They’ve kept it very casual and infrequent as their lives have been in different places and Taylor doesn’t do serious relationships. I really liked the dynamic that the guy is the one walking around thinking marriage and forever, and the girl is the one who isn’t interested in that kind of thing. I also liked how Lucky is with his family, how we see him grow closer with his father and make some healthy life choices. There are some scenes with his mom and it is clear this is a good man, he loves his family, and he’s glad to be home. This part was really nicely done.

Unfortunately the book had a lot of small cracks and issues that added up for me, things that detracted from my overall enjoyment. First of all, the scene where these two come face to face was ridiculous. They don’t recognize each other, can see well enough to know where the other is, and they can hear each other… so why do they not realize who is in the house with them? They have known each other from childhood and it has only been two years since they last met up. Dark or not – they would have recognized the other person’s voice or guessed at least! It really annoyed me – enough for me to mention it here.

That’s really just one example of things that didn’t add up for me. I believe the biggest problem is, I couldn’t ever really buy into this story because the pieces didn’t come together. The suspense/mystery of the missing woman felt like it was trotted out as needed, it didn’t really weave into the overall story nor did it really make sense why Lucky was so invested in that job. Speaking of Lucky, we are told he killed people and ran black ops, but we don’t really know much else about him. I was disappointed that he didn’t have more personality or individuality.

Taylor is really damaged from her parent’s divorce and her upbringing, but I never felt like we got enough of that backstory to make it stick. It didn’t fit for me, and not only that but I had a hard time knowing where the actions that were done in rebellion ended, and where the real Taylor began. Why did she pick Hawaii? What exactly made her so sure that love wasn’t real? Where along the way did she find herself? I’m not sure – and that bothers me.

As a female character I liked that Taylor was no-nonsense, take no crap, and that she had an edge to her. I like seeing characters that aren’t typical, and that are unique and interesting. I just wish that I had felt more like it was the real her we were seeing, and not some kind of defense mechanism or armor that she wore to protect herself.

I think that if the “missing woman” aspect of this story had been removed entirely it could have strengthened this book. I think it would have given the author more room to dig into these characters better, perhaps created a more emotional and satisfying love story. I really did like these characters, and I think they deserved a bit more space to focus on their story and development. We didn’t need the mobster or the missing woman angle, though the author did catch my attention with a twist at the end, overall for me it detracted from the story.

If you are looking for a steamy romance story of two people who grew up together, who have secretly been meeting up as lovers for years and now are trying to make a real relationship work, then perhaps this novel will be for you. The pace of the story is nice and the author had a number of scenes and moments that I did quite enjoy. Given the right set-up, I definitely would try this author again.

Grade: C

Recent Reviews:
Swept Away by Romance – 4.5/5
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