No Sunshine When She's Gone
Some authors have a writing style that either works for you or doesn’t. In this case, Ms. Angell’s writing style definitely didn’t work for me.
Jillian Mac was hot and bored when she plopped into an open seat at the Psychic Fair planning to do nothing more than rest her tootsies. But when a couple approaches the table looking for a reading and the hot guy on the date tells her he’s a skeptic, how can she resist weaving a bit of fun into her afternoon? She advises him that the lady he’s with loves someone else and is only using him to make that guy jealous. As his date sputters out excuses the psychic takes off. Brushing off his now ex, he follows the intriguing young lady who just read his aura.
When Aidan Cates catches up with her Jillian knows she has some splainin’ to do. He already knows she’s no psychic and he wonders just what she was doing when she gave him that “reading”. Seems she had overheard his lady love on a date the previous evening and gotten quite the earful from her booth side seat. It was just coincidence that she had run into them when they were looking for a reading but she couldn’t let the opportunity pass her by to let him know what was going on. Fair enough. The two then part ways but Aidan hopes he runs into her again.
And wouldn’t you know it, he does. It seems when Jillian isn’t pretending to be a psychic she works for the Richmond Rogues baseball team. Since Aidan is the contractor for the new Rogues spring training facility it looks like the two will be working closely with each other. Is love in the stars for these two baseball lovers?
I like baseball, I like sunshine, I like beach towns. I didn’t like this book. One of the first things that really bugged me was the tendency Jillian had to “drift”. This was the author’s way of explaining Jillian’s mental trips into info dumps in which we got tedious background information. Another problem I had with the novel was inexplicable character behavior – for example, both Jillian and her friend were given prime beach view rental properties by near strangers who wanted them to feel “welcome”. And another example -when Jillian is describing herself to Aidan she says, “I don’t give my friendship freely. Should I like someone I like them for life. I’m not an Indian giver. Permanence isn’t easy for me. I always have an escape route.” So she likes you for life and isn’t an Indian giver (offensive term by the way) but doesn’t do permanence? Isn’t “for life” permanent?
Adding to the reality struggles I had with the book was Jillian’s job description. It was said that she “floats most days. She has an agenda but she’ll take care of business in her own way and on her own time. She’s not a clock watcher. She moves with her biorhythms. They serve her well.” I’m sure that sounds extremely cool to some but business tends to be done on two people’s schedules, not one. Jillian moving to her biorhythms wouldn’t work for doing the job of liaison. She would have to meet with people and those people would want to know when to expect her.
So I’ve described Jillian for you. Let’s move on to Aidan. He’s rich. Apparently his family owns the beachside town of Barefoot William. And he’s got a twitchy dick. Seriously – for the first portion of the book that thing twitches a lot. And the author dumps a bunch of politically correct information at us regarding his character – he has a rescue dog for example – but mostly that’s just icing. The main thing is he has a nervous member.
For most books something incidental to the plot will at least keep things interesting for me – a mystery, an unresolved background issue, a big secret – but there was nothing here besides the romance and since I didn’t get the characters I couldn’t buy into their love story.
So that about sums it up. Wait, I have to add that I also hated the running joke of Aidan and Jillian meeting “under the sea”. Jillian had treated herself to Little Mermaid bed sheets and apparently the two of them found that something of a turn-on. Really? Children’s sheets a turn-on?
I didn’t connect with the characters, the storyline or the intended humor of the tale. If you are a fan of the writer it is possible that this book will work for you if her others have. If you haven’t tried her before I can’t recommend starting with this story.
I've been an avid reader since 2nd grade and discovered romance when my cousin lent me Lord of La Pampa by Kay Thorpe in 7th grade. I currently read approximately 150 books a year, comprised of a mix of Young Adult, romance, mystery, women's fiction, and science fiction/fantasy.
Book Details
Reviewer: | Maggie Boyd |
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Review Date: | June 10, 2014 |
Publication Date: | 2014/05 |
Grade: | C- |
Sensuality | Warm |
Book Type: | Contemporary Romance |
Review Tags: | |
Price: | $9.95 |
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