To get to him, I need to use her.I’ll play her like a violin and have her falling in love with me before she even knows what’s happening.
It will be easy. I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again.
She’s just a girl.
A tool to get what I want.When I’m done with her I won’t think twice about walking away.
At least, that was what I thought.
Until I met her.
Warning: slight rant to follow
I’ve loved and I mean LOVED Chelsea’s Fall and Rise series. So when I heard she’s coming out with a new book and I read the blurb for Behind to Back, I didn’t even have to think twice jumping at the chance to read it. Then I started reading it…and I swear I kept checking the cover to make sure I was reading a book by the same author.
This book puts Kristen Ashley’s descriptiveness to shame. I have never read so much mundane and unnecessary details in a book before. But while KA’s descriptiveness somehow works in her books, here it was just empty and pointless. I mean for gawd’s sake, I knew what the hero ate, what he wore, what he thought about wearing, what he drove, what he thought about driving. I swear, if I had to read about his bowel movements; (1) I actually wouldn’t have been surprised given everything else that’s described and (2) I would have chucked my kindle out the window.
I originally DNF’d this at 35% because I had no connection with the story or the characters. None. How could I? Let me give you a cliff notes version of the first 30%.
Spoiler alert: nothing happens.
We meet the protagonist. He has a name, but it’s not his real one. He shares this with you through his internal monologue at least 5 times. He goes into a coffee shop and notices the heroine, who’s wearing a disguise…but you have no idea why. (Cue intrigue)
He goes out and does a bunch of stuff while having a lot more internal thoughts.
He gets home. Goes to sleep. Oh and he has a cat named Leo.
He wakes up. Talks about his mission to punish all the bad men for the bad things they did through their money, but you have no idea why. He has a team of people that do this with him, but you have no idea how they work. Oh and one of them is gay and the other is a manwhore….because every book needs those.
He wakes up the next day. Has a shave. Thinks about what he’s going to wear. Decides on the Briani. (my uncultured self had to look up Briani). Thinks about whether to take the Royce or the Ferrari. Goes out. Does stuff… But you still have no idea what he does aside from his “day job”. Comes home. Goes to sleep.
He wakes up. Eats something. Thinks about his cat. Hangs out with his friends who also work with him, they talk about a bunch of stuff. Goes home because he has a migraine and goes to sleep.
He wakes up. Talks to his friend/”team mate” about what to wear to better attract the heroine. Goes out. Does a bunch of stuff. Comes home. Goes to sleep.
Bla bla bla next 20% bla bla bla.
He’s still looking for the heroine. But you have no idea why. Because her daddy did a bad thing but you have no idea what. He goes home again because he has a headache. Cuddles his cat. Goes to sleep.
Wakes up the next day. Goes looking for the heroine. He has a coffee. Can’t find the heroine. Goes home. Talks with his teammates about updates…though at this point I just don’t care..
Wakes up the next day. Sets up another failed attempt to meet the heroine. Flirts with a girl at a bar. Takes his fancy suit and fancy car home. Goes to sleep…his cat is also home. Because…you know…he has a cat and stuff.
Wakes up again. Meets with his teammates to complain how he can’t seem to set up the “accidental” meet with the heroine. Thinks about more mundane stuff. Oh he also does some work and stuff. Goes home and goes to sleep.
7 weeks later, 7000 mundane details later and he still hasn’t met the heroine.
Oh but wait, when he finally DOES meet her, all it takes is their eyes to connect for him to burn for her. (Cue eye roll)
At this point I was actually forcing myself to keep reading in hopes something, anything would happen. But any connection I could have had for the characters or their story was lost somewhere between the hero’s metrosexual percolating over his car and wardrobe choices and the really bad analogies.
Analogies like this
She’s…fragile. Like a glass holding a bouquet of beautiful flowers that would shatter if you bump it too hard.
or this
And cheesy lines like this
or this…
I felt like the entire story was being told to me as opposed to shown. There really wasn’t any depth to the characters, aside from the hero’s internal monologue of details that have no added value to the actual story.
The only saving grace for me was the twist at the very end. Unfortunately by then it was just a little too late. I don’t care enough about the couple to be curious as to what happens with them in the next book. I don’t like the hero, and I’m simply not intrigued enough by the heroine.
Will I read future books by this author? Absolutely and without a doubt. Even the best of authors can write a book that won’t work for you once in a while. I don’t expect them all to be winners, and just because I didn’t enjoy this particular book, doesn’t mean other readers won’t. I’ve loved her other work, and I’d never judge an author’s talent by one book alone. So if this is your first book by this author and you didn’t enjoy it, please don’t let it stop you from reading her other work because it really was fantastic, as I’m sure her future books will be.
