Lynsey A's Love of Romance

2 stars is generous. I didn't dislike the book but it really isn't anything to write home about. Oh how do I start? I just have to make a list:

1. The book was ridiculous.

2. The reasons for keeping the truth of Markie's parentage a secret were ludicrous and the whole idea that a deeply religious woman has to decide between carrying an illegitimate child or having an abortion is dumb! Heck, I'm not deeply religious but no way in this world would I terminate a pregnancy because I was worried the father would think I was after him for his money! She is so deeply religious she lied to the father about his son. Instead she made up a story (which in itself, is actually believable, surprising, considering the rest of the book) about a soldier KIA in Afghanistan.

3. The hero's mom was a bitch! She was the same way in the previous book with that hero's girl. She became all sweetness and nice at the end after learning Winnie (from the previous book) wasn't after the hero's money. She was the same horrible woman to Joceline in the beginning of this book, but oh, she was just trying to protect her son. Ugh, horrid woman. Not to mention she was in the same situation as Joceline when she was younger. She decided to terminate the pregnancy because she didn't want to tell the deeply religious man who made love to her!!! that she was pregnant because he might be horrified because of how religious he was. Oh yeah, go and abort the baby because that's the more sensible decision. Stupid, stupid reasons!

4. The real killer was so obvious I'm surprised it didn't slap the FBI agent hero across the face.

5. The writing was so poor in this one. I think it is worse than some of the others. I don't recall DP writing like this before. The conversations were so ping-pong it got annoying.

6. This book seemed like it was supposed to be some type of religious devotional except for all of the many different sins constantly committed in this book. I have absolutely no problem with religion but if I wanted to read an inspirational romance I would pick up one.

7. Jon Blackhawk, the hero, was so beta I wanted to puke. I'm not a big fan of beta heroes but he was over the top. I like my romance novel heroes to be men and unfortunately, in this one, he fell quite short.

8. I did not get a sense of any romance in this story. There was so much focus on religion, the "case" they were working on, the secret child, the bitch of a mother, the gaming talk that nothing felt real while reading this book. I had no "awww" moments, nothing that left me wanting more between the H and h.

9. The whole mystery in this one was so confusing. It actually concluded the case from the previous book about the hero's brother. There were so many people involved that every time they talked about the case I just got confused so I skipped right over it.

OK, after this rant, not quite sure why I gave it 2 stars instead of 1. I guess it is because I didn't hate the book but then again it was so absolutely ridiculous! I'm sure there are some things I forgot to include in this review. Believe me, if I can think of them later this baby will get edited!

ETA: This book just may have cured my DP reading, at least as far as these new releases are concerned. Ugh!