Falling For Max by Shannon Stacey (Kowalski Family #9)
Releases: July 29, 2014
Contemporary Romance
Carina Press
Reviewed by May
Tori Burns knows that she never wants love or marriage – just look what it did to her parents! Name calling, fights, and a messy divorce left her soured on the whole institution. She’s content to work as a graphic designer and part-time waitress at the local diner. At least, this seems like enough until Max comes in.
Max Crawford has a new to-do item on his list this month: find a wife. Well ok, he’s decided perhaps that is too ambitious he simply wants to find a date. He heads to the local diner to try and chat up some nice ladies only to be shut down. Luckily the waitress is very friendly and the two strike up a friendship, and she offers to help give him guidance and get a date.
“I don’t have a preference as far as hair and eye color. Or height or weight.” He paused, and gave a little shrug. “I’m just looking for a woman who’ll love me enough to marry me and risk having little odd duck kids. That’s pretty much my list.”
Of course the pair finds more than friendship – if only Tori can get over her debilitating fear of commitment.
So right off the bat I adored this book, well mostly I adored Max. He is a quiet, shy, socially awkward artist who spends most of his time alone. He says exactly what he means and he stole my heart immediately. There are too few characters like him out there in romance land, so this was a real treat. If you want to read this kind of male lead character you must read this one. Max did not disappoint.
I also really enjoyed the slow build. There are small sparks, things start adding up and there are looks and moments – yes. I’m tired of instant chemistry type romances where everyone is immediately lusting and knows that this other person is the one.
What I didn’t enjoy was the heroine. As someone who has been through a very similar situation to her I found that rather than feel compassion for her I simply wanted to slap her. Her mom calls and yells about her dad, and then her dad calls and fusses about her mom. This is the entire basis for her “I can’t believe in love and I’m too scared to try” life. Never mind all the friends she has who are happily married or in committed relationships. Clearly romance can’t work for poor little miss Tori.
I believe that if this would not bother you, or perhaps if you like a heroine with debilitating fear of commitment then this book would work much better for you. The main (really the only) conflict in this story is this issue so because it was so center stage it really hurt my overall enjoyment of the book.
I would have graded this book higher despite Tori and my dislike of her, but unfortunately the way the plot goes I did not see any growth from her as a character and I couldn’t trust in the HEA. Someone as determined that love and marriage are the devil as Tori can’t just flip around and suddenly be ready for love and commitment. She needed more time and work, and I needed to see something more than a blink and her word that she had completely changed her outlook on life.
Grade: C
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