Aayesha the Book Hogger

Oh. Dear. GOD. Oh God oh God oh God.

This hero was even worse than the one in 'The Child of Judas'. He actually SLAPS THE HEROINE. And not one, TWICE. 

So we start off with our sweetheart heroine, Gail, swooping in to save Carl's ass. She drives through a STORM for him for God's sake. That's how much she loves him. Now, I'm all for smitten heroine (my most favourite trope), and I loved that she was doing that. I also loved how she wasn't a doormat and stood her ground, gave him his due. Whenever he yelled at her/insulted her, she didn't keep quiet. She was fiery, with just the right amount of sweetness. It was at the end that I hated her.

But let's not get into that now. For now I'll concentrate on my hatred for HIM.

So, as I was saying, our hero here is sulking. All because the woman he loved left him and married someone else BECAUSE HE BROKE HIS LEG. I'd think that says enough about OW, right? But NOO. Our dense hero sticks like an ant to chewing gum to his 'love' for OW. Aye, I know, that's another of my favourite tropes. But see, what made me really angry was how he treated the heroine. He kept rubbing the heroine's plain face into her every chance he got, insulted her and kept bringing up OW all the time. OH GOD. He was such an ASS. And not in the good, I-love-hating-him way. In a if-you-choose-him-you're-signing-up-for-a-life-of-psychologist-consults-and-hospital-visits. I saw no redeeming qualities in him. Even after they get married and Gail changes her appearance to please him, puts on a bit of make-up and everything, he doesn't notice ANYTHING. And then when Carl's cousin comes over and shows interest in Gail, Carl gets all possessive and back-off-beeyotch. You don't love/value her, asshole, but are married to her so he can't have her either? (Don't get me wrong, I hate adultery and the lot. And Gail had no interest in the cousin whatsoever. But Carl's possessiveness really bothered me because HE FUCKING DOESN'T CARE ABOUT GALE AT ALL.)

Now we'll get to the part which maddened me THE MOST. He crossed THE LINE after this. He discovers that Gail hides OW's divorce from him and gets angry with her. OF COURSE she's going to hide it from you, you idiot!!! I CAN'T THINK OF A SINGLE REASON WHY SHE SHOULD TELL YOU.

And then HE SLAPS HER. Oh God. He actually hits her so hard that she is flung across the room.

And she just takes it, thinking she deserves it. And then he packs up and LEAVES HIS PREGNANT WIFE FOR THE OW. By this time I was just like 

So he up and leaves her, and she's pregnant and alone. And of course, because it's Harlequin land, she must have all happiness snatched away from her, she has an accident and miscarries. And STILL, STILL, EVEN AFTER ALL THE THINGS THE ASSHOLE DOES, she loves him.

But wait, that's not it. She even DEFENDS him to her sister, and says that she (the sister) mustn't say bad things about him because she loves him. When Asshole comes back, begs for forgiveness, says that nothing happened between him and OW - he came back because he realises he loves her, he's been at his house the entire time and blah blah blah, she forgives him and they live unhappily ever after. And I wouldn't have cared if his grovel was the king of all grovels (which it definitely wasn't - Diana Palmer does them best), he was past all redemption. 

As for the author's writing, it didn't really light a match with me. I found it too flat and unemotional, but the flow and dialogues were superb. It was the descriptions (or lack of them) and story-telling I didn't like. I'm not sure whether or not I'll pick up more of this author's books, but most probably not.