Shaken and Stirred

Reviewed by MisGif on March 6th, 2008, 1:37pm

by Kathleen O'Reilly

Format: Print Books

Series: Harlequin Blaze

I read a review of this book on another site and because I needed a HQ book for the challenge I went to buy it.  However I was not as impressed as the reviewer who inspired me was.

Consider a good ole Irish bar in NY, in the family 80 years, now run by the youngest of three Irish brothers, all bordering on the positive side of rakish.  Gabe is our lead in the book, he's everything a male lead should be, sexier than sin and with an ego to match.  He's got a problem in the form of Tessa, his best bartender who showed up in NY 4 years prior after a horrible breakup and she still hasn't gotten over it.

Toss them in an apartment together, shake in Tessa's continuous mental instability where she is constantly trying to find herself, stir in a bit of 'sex with the perfect stranger' pretending and what do you have?

Well for me you have a male lead who fell like a whipped dog to this unstable woman and therein is where the book nosedived.  Gabe, as described, should have been stronger willed instead of easily led around by the uhm... nose?  It really annoyed me that after all he did for her before they became sexually involved, and all the hoops he jumped afterward, it was a completely unrelated incident that made her realize 'oh yea, I do love this guy'.

Sorry - I prefer my characters stronger all around.

Gina (Misgif)
http://www.sweetdelilahblue.com