Mini Reviews [20]

Tangled (Tangled, #1) by Emma Chase
Narrated by Sebastian York

Synopsis (via Goodreads): Drew Evans is a winner. Handsome and arrogant, he makes multimillion dollar business deals and seduces New York’s most beautiful women with just a smile. He has loyal friends and an indulgent family. So why has he been shuttered in his apartment for seven days, miserable and depressed?

He’ll tell you he has the flu.

But we all know that’s not really true.

Katherine Brooks is brilliant, beautiful and ambitious. She refuses to let anything - or anyone - derail her path to success. When Kate is hired as the new associate at Drew’s father’s investment banking firm, every aspect of the dashing playboy’s life is thrown into a tailspin. The professional competition she brings is unnerving, his attraction to her is distracting, his failure to entice her into his bed is exasperating.

Then, just when Drew is on the cusp of having everything he wants, his overblown confidence threatens to ruin it all. Will he be able untangle his feelings of lust and tenderness, frustration and fulfillment? Will he rise to the most important challenge of his life?

Can Drew Evans win at love?

Tangled is not your mother’s romance novel. It is an outrageous, passionate, witty narrative about a man who knows a lot about women…just not as much as he thinks he knows. As he tells his story, Drew learns the one thing he never wanted in life, is the only thing he can’t live without.

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I really love Emma Chase's Royally series, and I was looking forward to reading some of her other books. However, Drew didn't work for me. He's uses women and doesn't feel bad about it, which he will happily admit. He likes his lifestyle, his work, and the fact that women cling to him wherever he goes. Dude made me want to vomit. There was nothing attractive or appealing about him. Yes, he could be sweet and humorous, and I liked the scenes with his niece (she was the best character), but Drew's personality left something to be desired.

Of course, someone eventually comes along to challenge him and the way he views woman (imagine that), but he doesn't know what to do with his feelings. He's never genuinely cared about another woman before, and Kate is engaged to someone else. It was a complicated mess that wasn't always enjoyable to read about. I'm all for steamy sex scenes, but I didn't like spending a few hours of the audiobook in his apartment while they had sex for days. He's a condescending asshole even when he likes someone.

For those of you that have read this, I know Drew was supposed to have an arrogant personality, but it really rubbed me the wrong way. I don't like it when guys are pushy until they get what they want, and I don't like men who talk about women like they're an object in the room. Drew didn't have to work very hard for what he wanted, and he didn't have to grow or change to achieve his goals. Eventually everything just fell into his lap -- figuratively and literally.

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The Idea of You by Robinne Lee

Synopsis (via Goodreads): When Solène Marchand, the thirty-nine-year-old owner of a prestigious art gallery in Los Angeles, takes her daughter, Isabelle, to meet her favorite boy band, she does so reluctantly and at her ex-husband’s request. The last thing she expects is to make a connection with one of the members of the world-famous August Moon. But Hayes Campbell is clever, winning, confident, and posh, and the attraction is immediate. That he is all of twenty years old further complicates things.

What begins as a series of clandestine trysts quickly evolves into a passionate relationship. It is a journey that spans continents as Solène and Hayes navigate each other’s disparate worlds: from stadium tours to international art fairs to secluded hideaways. And for Solène, it is as much a reclaiming of self, as it is a rediscovery of happiness and love. When their romance becomes a viral sensation, and both she and her daughter become the target of rabid fans and an insatiable media, Solène must face how her new status has impacted not only her life, but the lives of those closest to her.

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The Idea of You was recommended to me by a friend, and while the ending was sad, it wasn't convincing. I didn't like Solène or most of the choices she made. She kept secrets even knowing they would hurt the people she loved. She was too concerned with how she would look, and how she would be impacted by things. Although, I can't say she wasn't considerate, because she did think about her daughter often, but her actions and decisions weren't always ideal. Hayes, the twenty-year-old guy, was often more mature and understanding than the thirty-nine-year-old woman.

Also, their age difference shouldn't have been an issue. The book makes it seem like they're doing something dirty because Hayes prefers to be in relationships with older women. They were both consenting adults, so her shame and discomfort over that felt wrong. He didn't care about their age difference, only his feelings for her, so why was she so resistant to commit to their relationship? Yes, the publicity did negatively affect her personal life, and the life of her daughter, but she knew that was a possibility before she started sneaking off to be with him. She knew there would be repercussions, so she should have committed fully or never gotten involved.

The posh boy band aspect was fun, and their dynamics were complex and interesting. I wish the book had focused on them more, and maybe touched on some of their relationships with each other. I think it would have worked better had the story been told from dual perspectives. We could have seen what his life was like when he was wasn't with Solène, which would have also shown us more of the band.

Solène wasn't someone I could relate to, and I found myself more frustrated than not. I kept reading out of curiosity, but the ending was predictable and very unsatisfying.