Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Book Review: Going All the Way by Cynthia Cooke


Love is the worst complication…

After a failed marriage and quitting her high-pressure job, Carrie Steinhem is ready for uncomplicated fun. Love? Not what she’s looking for. She’d rather crash a wedding with her friends and find a hot hookup. The bride’s father is onto her, though. But just as her night out veers toward public embarrassment, a sizzling stranger sweeps in and claims Carrie as his date.

Potential hookup? Check. If she doesn’t get cold feet first.

Ryan Burton is on the fast track to a promotion…assuming he can avoid distractions and nail this new account. Except the woman he rescued at a friend’s wedding ends up not only being his new neighbor—she’s his client’s ex-wife. And his client has every intention of winning her back.

Carrie and Ryan would love to leave complicated alone, but when two people share a duplex and irresistible chemistry, temptation—and love—is right around the corner…



 



Cynthia Cooke has written quite a few romance novels but Going All the Way is the first one that I've had the opportunity to pick up. I had some mixed feelings about this one. I'm not completely sure how I feel about this book, actually. Looks like you'll know when I do because this is one I'll figure out as I write the review. 

The story between Ryan and Carrie was ... okay. For the majority of the book, I really didn't feel any spark or passion between both of them. That's a really horrible thing to say about a romance novel but it is what it is, right? I just ... I was reading the words on the pages but for some reason it didn't translate into something tangible for me. That just happens sometimes but it's never a good experience. I could tell that passion and excitement for their relationship was intended, I just didn't get it. 

I enjoyed reading about both of the characters but I also had this feeling at the end of the book that I still didn't really know them. I knew stuff about them, of course, because there are a lot of details about both characters within the pages but I felt like I couldn't really grasp what kind of person each of them were. Sure, I knew details ... workaholic, stressed out, career driven ... got all that ... but I didn't feel that personal connection where I could pick them out just by their description if I was in like a character line-up or taking a test on the characters from the books I'd read lately. I just wanted something more from them. I wanted to be so connected to them that they seemed like old friends. I guess that is what I'm looking for with all books that I pick up. 

This book is one of those slow burn type situations. There aren't any fiery spots where everything just explodes with some kind of emotion ... everything is just boiling below the surface. Because of that, it read a little slower than I'm used to. There were some sentences that I skimmed over because I was wanting to just push the storyline along. It would have been okay with me if it had sped up just a bit to keep everything moving more fluidly. 

I didn't hate it but it probably won't be on my MUST READ AGAIN list any time soon. I might pick up another book by this author or I might not. No real urge there either. But it wasn't a bad book. It was entertaining for the most part but nothing within the pages kept me up at night thinking about it or encouraged me to pick up my phone and call my bestie with the title of this one.

* I received this novel in exchange for an honest review *



Available: February 8th, 2016


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