This book falls into my New Author Reading Challenge.I picked up Loves Me, Loves Me Knot because I liked the cover. That guy looks like a tall drink of water and very sexy in his pajamas...and I'm a sucker for a good set of shoulders. Sue me.
The story opens with a woman named Charlotte pushing an old family spinning wheel up into the attic. She's convinced it's magic and brings true love to the person she's thinking about when she weaves the yarn. She's just made some yarn for her neice, Jenna, who's been divorced from her husband Gage over a year ago. Jenna still loves Gage and didn't want a divorce.
Right after we meet Jenna, the story set me off for the rest of the book. Jenna is house-sitting for her aunt Charlotte, and Jenna's two best friends come over for drinks and get drunk. The subject of kids comes up, and Jenna is melancholy because she wanted kids with Gage and can't imagine having kids with anyone else. They hatch a plan to invite him over, add drugs to his beer, and then Jenna will tie him up and have sex with him to try to get pregnant. Now, I know this is supposed to be a lighthearted romance, but I really had a problem with that scenario. If the sexes would have been reversed he'd go to jail for that. I couldn't let that go and it marred my enjoyment of the rest of the book.
Gage is upset when he realizes Jenna tried to get pregnant, as the reason they got divorced was because he didn't want kids and she did. He decides he's got to keep an eye on her until she knows if she's pregnant, so he stays with her while she's house sitting. There are some tense moments, but they do talk about where things went wrong and revisit their relationship, including the reasons why he suddenly decided he didn't want kids after they were already married.
If it wouldn't have been for the involuntary stud service scene I might have enjoyed this book, but to the end I just couldn't get past it. I give Loves Me, Loves Me Knot 2 stars.
Ive heard a ton of mixed reviews about this one. I always love her covers though and it does sound cute...idk maybe Ill wait a bit longer! lol Great review sweets! ;o)
ReplyDeleteYeah, this one was definitely not as good as the first one. And I wasn't that keen on the set up for the next one, either.
ReplyDeleteSorry to see that it was not your fave honey. =(
ReplyDeleteBut you gave an honest review and that is all we can ask for!
Have a great day!
Haven't read anything like this in a while and I do want to now :)
ReplyDeleteWhoa any book that has the main heroine trying to get pregnant does not sound like a good book. The only book I've ever read where I actually didn't mind that aspect was Susan Elizabeth Phillips, even then I had a few niggles reading about it.
ReplyDeleteThis is what turns me off of contemporary romance the Jerry Springer style plot.
Oh yeah, if those roles were reversed that book wouldn't even be published... I don't like it when romance writers treat their male protagonists as 'things' - a means to an end.
ReplyDeleteGreat, honest review.
P.S. - I see you've finished 'Morganvile Vampires' - I can't wait to read your review! And there was happy news last week, Ms. Caine announced that she is contracted for 12 MV books (not sure if that means 4 more, or another 12 ? - either way, WOO-HOO!)
"But everyone knows women are allowed to get angrier about double standards!"
ReplyDeleteHa, I totally agree with you. I was interested a bit in this book because I got the first one at RWA, but reading this review, I would be totally hung up on the fact that they were planning a date rape, too. Regardless of gender, it would be a date rape.
I had a similar marring experience reading Nora Roberts' Blue Dahlia. In it, one of the secondary characters (who gets a sequel) is pregnant thanks to a one night stand with a friend. Because her friend is now engaged, she doesn't want to tell him about the baby because she doesn't want to "be a hassle."
And that's it for the novel. I kept going, "WTF? You're keeping a child from its father and vice versa because you don't want to be hassle? He can be married to someone else and still want to know if he has a kid out there somewhere!" I mean, it's nowhere near a date-rape joke but it was something that continued to bug me and brought down the novel.
Great review!
Monroe: I hadn't heard of this author, honestly that cover sucked me in!
ReplyDeleteChris: I don't like the set up for the next book either.
Cecile: Thanks, hope you had a great day too!
Blodeuedd: Got your curiosity up, huh? ;)
Smokinhotbooks: I might not have minded if she'd just asked him, but to drug him and tie him up and have sex while he was out of it (at least at first) just bothered me.
Danielle: I agree! I'm working on the Morganville review but it's hard b/c I read all 7 books back to back so at this point I'm all over the place! I saw the next two covers - nice!
AnimeJune: Glad to know it's not just me! I spent the rest of the book not liking the main character b/c I felt like what she did was selfish and illegal.
Patti: I think we were right about the prospects for the next book - check out the Dear Author review.
ReplyDeleteChris: Ouch! I saw it on the shelves at lunch today and I walked right past it.
ReplyDeleteSounds like the wise choice, doesn't it?!
ReplyDeleteI think I couldn't get past that either! Especially since the heroine who wants to get pregnant isn't my favorite type of heroine anyway...
ReplyDeleteWondeful review! :)
I'm just now reading this book and I'm SO GLAD I'm not the only one who had a problem with a woman drugging her ex and having sex with him. It's a GOOD thing when men are honest and tell us what they do and do not want, so to override that by drugging him to get her own way, I totally hated this book and selfish Jenna.
ReplyDelete