Just The Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James

From the author's website: "Nothing fazes Taylor Donovan.  In the courtroom she never lets the opposition see her sweat.  In her personal life, she never lets any man rattle her–not even her cheating ex-fiancé.  So when she’s assigned to coach People’s “Sexiest Man Alive” for his role in his next big legal thriller, she refuses to fall for the Hollywood heartthrob’s charms.  Even if he is the Jason Andrews.

Jason Andrews is used to having women fall at his feet.  When Taylor Donovan gives him the cold shoulder, he’s thrown for a loop.  She’s unlike any other woman he’s ever met: uninterested in the limelight, seemingly immune to his advances, and shockingly capable of saying no to him.  She’s the perfect challenge.  And the more she rejects him, the more he begins to realize that she may just be his perfect match. . ."

Just the Sexiest Man Alive came so close to getting a spectacular grade from me.  I enjoyed its fast pace, it's 'witty' banter, and the main two characters (mostly).  Ugh, notice how I'm already hedging on a positive review by putting the witty in quotes and the mostly in parenthesis there?  That's not fair to this book, which is a good one.  In fact, I'm half afraid that my low score comes from the fact that I think it could have been so much better with a few changes.

Taylor is a good protagonist.  She's got a career, ambition, friends, and family.  She loves what she does.  She knows who she is.  There is much to love about Taylor, but the book doesn't focus as much on the things to love as it does on who she loves.  Taylor's life appears to fail the Bechdel Test.  Perhaps this is because I was reading a romance, but all her conversations with her closest friends revolve around guys and how she should get over her ex-fiance and how Jason is the total cutest boy ever.  Her friends giggle and shriek over Jason and other actors. 

It's tiring, but possibly a true representation of life.  If my closest friend started to date Brad Pitt or Ryan Reynolds, perhaps I'd shriek and giggle too.  On the other hand, her friends are nothing like me.  They immediately look at Jason as a possible serious relationship even though Taylor has yet to even date him at a point in the book.

Jason comes off better in the book.  He's arrogant and conceited and silly in the beginning, but it allows for him to show more growth and of a more serious kind, as well.  Plus, when things happen to Jason that humiliate him, it both makes him sympathetic while also giving this reader a bit of a thrill to see it happen.  Jason's friend, Jeremy, does better duty as a friend than Taylor's do.  He has a legitimate reason for jumping immediately to the idea that Jason might be serious about Taylor.

The first several meetings between Jason and Taylor are delightful, though I was quickly over the idea that even they seemed to believe their patter was witty. I think one or more less witty conversations might have helped me believe a little more that they knew each other in some way when they started to think so seriously of each other.  However, the story still progressed easily and nicely.  Perhaps too much so.

At this point, the author introduces the OTHER MAN and he is EVIL.  In fact, she realizes this, and throws a mocking jab at it.  I almost wondered if she had been forced to put him in there by an editor or by people who originally read her book.  The other actor is so blatantly and obviously evil that sections containing him ring untrue.  If he had been competitive with Jason, but a good guy, or a decent but dumb man, then it all might have read better, but it doesn't.  He is there only to be a rival to Jason and to suck.

Once the story gets past this section, it picks up once again, going back to Taylor's career and how it does not quite mesh with Jason's career and their feelings for each other and why they each have issues they need to work past.  While I was not happy about the resolution of the story, at least it was cohesive and fast-paced.

Verdict: 6.  So close to true greatness, but not quite there.  (Started with an 8.  Deducted a point for Scott being a tool of a character.  Literally.  And another point for Taylor's resolution to her career storyline.)


Thoughts: I think this book will date itself fairly quickly with some of its pop culture references, which is a terrible shame because I enjoyed the book!

The Boys Next Door by Jennifer Echols

From the author's website:  "Lori lives for summertime at her family's lake house. She spends all season wakeboarding, swimming, and hanging with her friends--including the two hotties in the cabin next door. With the Vader brothers, Lori's always been one of the guys.

But while Lori and the "baby" brother, Adam, are inseparable friends, she can't deny a secret crush on Sean, the older Vader boy. This year Sean's been paying Lori a lot of attention, and not in a brotherly way.

But just as Lori decides to prove to Sean she's girlfriend material, she realizes that her role as girl friend to Adam may be even more important. And by trying so hard for the perfect summer romance, she could be going way overboard..."

I started this book highly suspicious of it. I've heard numerous wonderful praise for Echols and her writing, and the covers look nice enough at the book store, but most of the summaries of her books have made me snooze or say to myself, "boring". When I read what Wondrous Reads thought of The Boys Next Door, I was intrigued. Here was a concept that I could get behind. As I told my husband later, I'm always a huge fan of friends turned romantic interests in my fiction. (Almost as much as I love hateful enemies turned epic romantic lovers, in fact!)

However, with the book in hand, with its vaguely silly cartoonish cover, I was prepare to be underwhelmed. Well, you all know what is said about judging books by their covers. I started the book with disinterest, but only a few chapters later, I was more than into the story. In fact, I read the book twice in a row because I loved it so much. What did I love? Lori, Adam, McGillicuddy, and the relationships between this long time group of friends! Lori and Adam felt real. They had real flaws, but real passions. I hate reading a book and being told what the main character is passionate about or what their flaws are but then never seeing these flaws or passions put into action in the book. Here, you get the feel for the characters' adoration of wakeboarding, Adam's ADHD, the main romance, Lori's need for female friends.

Also, this romance is smoking. I mentally cheered whenever Adam and Lori hooked up, and whenever Lori thought about the brothers. I knew I was a goner when it ended and I was like, "But I want to know more!"

The only, only, only quibble I have with the whole book is how quickly it wrapped up at the end. I think I was so angry at certain characters that Lori's willingness to forgive drove me a little mad. Perhaps I just don't want characters I find understandable to be better than me, though. (I say with a smile!)


Verdict:  9.  I am so so happy that book bloggers love Jennifer Echols because now I know about her and I've read this book.

Thoughts: This book has a sequel! I've already ordered it from my library.