Ain’t She Sweet (Green Mountain #6) by Marie ForceReleased: April 26, 2016
Contemporary Romance
Berkley
Reviewed by Kini
The latest Green Mountain Romance from the The New York Times bestselling author of It’s Only Love.
Charlotte “Charley” Abbott has gone out with every guy under thirty-five in Butler, Vermont—except for one. Tyler Westcott’s attempts to date her may be determined, and frequent, but Charley can’t stand how he acts like he knows her better than she knows herself. So when Tyler turns up at the running club Charley joined to train for a marathon, she’s almost ready to quit before she even gets started.
Tyler knows that behind Charley’s prickly personality and dismissive attitude is a sweet woman he wants in his life. And when Charley suffers an injury while training, Tyler is ready to prove that the perfect man for her has been right there all along…
I was intrigued by the blurb on this – a woman who has dated a lot but just can’t find a suitable partner is a trope I enjoy. I have not read any other books in this series, I did not think this would be an issue as I have jumped in to other series with several previous books with little to no issue.
It opens up with Charley and Tyler on a run and she falls down a cliff. It is fairly severe and Tyler has to go get help and get Charley to the hospital. Early on it is very clear that Tyler is very interested in Charley and she hasn’t been willing to accept it up to this point. While in the hospital I was bombarded with several of Charley’s siblings. At location 199 I made a note to myself wondering exactly how big was the family. Charley has nine siblings and eight cousins, all of whom show up in this book. I could not keep names and partners straight.
Tyler offers to let Charley come stay with him when she is released from the hospital. His house is all one level and he works from home so easily able to care for her. He has loved her for a while but due to her being stubborn was never able to make progress with her.
Charley had a boyfriend in college that wronged her, he ran some sort of scam on her and several other women while in college. Because of this she is very reluctant to date or get involved seriously with a man. She tells Tyler-
“That’s all they want- a quick wham, bam, thank you ma’am. After that, they’re different. The charm stops, and they don’t even bother with the bullshit anymore.”
As the story progresses we see Tyler caring for Charley and slowly leading her to a relationship. He even convinces her to a short-term, set time frame relationship. I usually enjoy that plot device, but here it just didn’t work for me. I never really understood why Tyler had been carrying a torch for Charley. I felt like the author was telling and not showing how he came by his feelings. I also didn’t buy into Charley’s great mistrust of men. I didn’t fully understand what happened with her college boyfriend that caused her nearly ten-year avoidance of relationships. Not to take away from Charley’s feelings, but I didn’t get it.
My biggest issue with this book was not knowing and understanding the additional characters in the book. At least four of Charley’s family member got page time to tie up previous storylines or lay the groundwork for new stories. I can work with books that give a quick refresher on a character or light introduction to new ones and potential story lines, but I felt this was way over that line.
Charley and Tyler definitely had potential as a couple. He was sweet and caring. She was jaded, yet loving with her family. I enjoyed the way he charmed himself in to her good graces. I would not recommend this be read as a stand alone and I have no interest in going back and reading the previous books.
Grade : C-
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