Snowed In by Jenna Bayley-Burke (More Than Friends #2)
Contemporary Romance
December 6, 2016
Swerve (Macmillan)
Reviewed by Helyce
I know this is probably the worst way to start a review, but I have to say it. I really disliked the heroine in this story. She almost completely ruined the story for me and I lost count of the eye rolls, and OMGs I uttered after a while. I say almost because I could understand some of the feelings and decisions she’d made after her experiences, but at the same, her unwillingness to even attempt to make connections with anyone based on one, very bad apple just seemed ridiculous to me.
Marissa put all her eggs in one basket when she started dating and fell in love with the high school basketball star. She planned her life (mistake #1) around his goals, applied to and attended the same college (mistake #2) as he did and majored in business (mistake #3) so that she could help him pass his classes. READ: she did all his work for him (mistake #4). She planned to marry him and have babies and take care of them and their house and live the dream of being a basketball star’s wife. They got engaged, but on their wedding day she finds out that her fiance has been unfaithful not once, but many times over the course of their relationship. And the man who knew about it and never said anything to her is none other than Scott Parker.
Scott had noticed and had pretty much fell for Marissa when he’d first met her, but knew she was off limits because she was his best friend’s girl. He also knew what Chris was doing behind Marissa’s back when they travelled for away games. He hated not being truthful, and though it made him sick, he couldn’t do anything about it. Causing trouble for Chris would put stress on the whole team, so he kept it to himself. But everything comes to a head on Marissa’s wedding day when Scott confronts Chris about everything and he leaves her at the altar.
At this point, Marissa has to start all over. Everything she’d done in her life was based on her end game of being Chris’s wife. When it all blew up in her face, she had no choice but to move forward. She had a degree she never expected to use because she didn’t think she’d have to work. As difficult as it was, though, Marissa moved forward. She got a job, a place of her own and she’s found a niche that is all hers, event planning. But, in trying to pick up the pieces she locks away her feelings and her heart; no room for anyone to hurt her again.
I’m not totally unfeeling and can understand Marissa being so hurt she felt she had no choice but to lock her heart away. I can also understand a woman who’d been through what she’d been through would tend to be gun shy where relationships were concerned. But not every man is out to do what Chris did. And she has to bear some of the responsibility of finding herself in that position to begin with. She’d lost herself completely trying to be someone she thought she should be. How is that ever going to work?
Jumping forward to the wedding of a friend and the subsequent aftermath of being snowed in with Scott Parker-someone Marissa holds partially responsible for what happened because he knew about Chris’s infidelity. I get that she was hurt and that Scott could have saved her a lot of embarrassment and heartache if he’d shared what he knew. Really, I do. But once they are alone at his cabin, and Scott makes his interest clear, Marissa decides what the hell. He’s hot, why not. She can keep it just sex.
I think this was when I started to dislike Marissa. Having been treated so badly by someone before, how could she possibly enter into something with Scott knowing how he felt about her? Whether she made her position clear or not, this whole thing just didn’t sit right with me. And I liked Scott. I understood where he was coming from and I just couldn’t understand what he saw in her. There really wasn’t much to like. She complained about everything and I really lost it when she had the nerve to complain about the fact that he used spit on her clit to get her off. And that’s only one of the things she complained about regarding sex and Scott’s technique. This girl had some odd, err…..issues, where sex was concerned.
Now, I haven’t said too much about Scott, but I really liked him. I felt his remorse at not speaking up sooner, and bringing what he knew to Marissa’s attention back in college. I liked how he was with his friends and family and I wanted him to get the girl that he wanted–but boy this girl made it hard! Scott makes the best of the time he has while they are snowed in. He tried his best to show Marissa how good they can be together bothin in and out of bed. He shares his love of his home which included all kinds of outdoor snow activities to which Marissa found fault with at almost every turn. But Scott would not be deterred. Unfortunately, when the roads clear up, Marissa clears out.
At this point, I finished the story because I was well past 50% and I was curious to see just how the author would provide an HEA for these two. It was too easily achieved with Marissa’s complete change of heart and her willingness to do everything she said she would never do.
Grade: D
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