The Start of Something Good is the tale of Mia and Ethan, opposites and enemies-on-first-sight who fall into a beautiful something after getting to know one another. Mia is a PR exec in charge of the campaign for the future mayor of New York City, while Ethan is a former Special Forces officer, come home to upstate New York to help at his family’s bed and breakfast and horse rescue facility. The pair meet when Mia is asked to ride herd over the candidate’s rebellious daughter who is performing community service at the facility and their relationship blossoms from a fling to a forever.
Mia Thrush (whose last name is also the British word for yeast infection and kept throwing me off the whole damn book) is a woman who goes after her goals single-mindedly. When we meet her, the two prescient goals are to get Jonathan Lake elected and to lose the final ten pounds necessary to fit into her dream Gucci dress. This, ladies and gentlemen, is when I knew Mia and I probably wouldn't be friends. She spends the first portion of this book nearly starving herself for that dress, and is perpetually hangry because of it. I yelled at her - out loud - a few times; “eat a fecking cookie and be a more pleasant person!” so that’s the vibe she was giving off.
In fact, Mia’s relationship with food is a massive part of this book, and is actually why I gave it the grade I did. When Ethan and Mia first start hate-flirting, he demands she eat sweets. He makes bets about making her cupcakes, tricks her into eating a slice of pie, and eventually her eating sweets becomes part of their sex life. The author goes to great pains to tell us that Mia doesn’t have an eating disorder, and I think the point she’s trying to make is that Mia has her priorities wrong and is using the indulgence of the eating as the way to communicate that… but the whole thing made me feel squidgy. The point of this plotline feels fuzzy and under-cooked (pun intended), and I wish we could have had Mia surrender to balance without a then-stranger tricking her into it.
Ethan is back home after sustaining a serious injury on a special forces tour. He’s rocking some crippling PTSD and a whole heap of self-loathing, but appears happy enough to help out his sisters with their business. He hates Mia on sight - largely because she’s pretty rude right off the bat, but also because he’s pretty judgy of her designer clothing. As they’re forced to work together for the good of Chloe, the aforementioned mayor’s daughter, their antipathy towards each other softens and their Start of Something Good kicks off.
Speaking of Chloe, she’s a huge part of this book, but we never get her PoV, so she’s also hard to read. At nineteen, she’s on that odd cusp of adolescence and adulthood, but a lot of her choices and language read as far younger and that threw me off as well. She was more than a plot device, for which I am grateful, but I’m hoping that Ms. Probst is plotting a book for her so that we can know her better.
I have a particular thing about food and body shaming, and that made Mia hard to like. If you don’t, The Start of Something Good may score much higher for you. I enjoyed it, once we focused on other parts of the story, and I am really excited for the sister’s books (which I am sure are coming).
Buy it at: Amazon
Sensuality: Warm
Publication Date: 06/2018
Recent Comments …
Yes, sorry, I meant e-books – I don’t read anything else these days. My library is county-wide, too, but I…
You’re welcome. If you want to know more, I can add some information to the spoiler, just let me know.
Thanks for sharing that insight, Caz. I haven’t read *spoiler* but it’s helpful to read your thoughts as I assess…
Is that true for ebooks as well? Because my library (bless it!) is part of a county-wide system for ebooks,…
I loved their interchanges. It is a lovely romance. I so wish there would be a second season!
I’m glad you liked it! One of my favorite exchanges: Jack (to Belle): Would you like to perform a dangerous…