Love Irresistibly by Julie James Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
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Synopsis:
HE’S USED TO GETTING WHAT HE WANTS…
A former football star and one of Chicago’s top prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorney Cade Morgan will do anything to nail a corrupt state senator, which means he needs Brooke Parker’s help. As general counsel for a restaurant company, she can get a bug to the senator’s table at one of her five-star restaurants so the FBI can eavesdrop on him. All Cade has to do is convince Brooke to cooperate—and he’s not afraid to use a little charm, or the power of his office, to do just that.
AND WHAT HE WANTS IS HER.
A savvy businesswoman, Brooke knows she needs to play ball with the U.S. Attorney’s office—even if it means working with Cade. No doubt there’s a sizzling attraction beneath all their sarcastic quips, but Brooke is determined to keep things casual. Cade agrees—until a surprising turn of events throws his life into turmoil, and he realizes that he wants more than just a good time from the one woman with whom he could fall terrifyingly, irresistibly in love . . .
☑ First of all : No insufferable ramblings, no Penny Reid heroine syndrome
MY SANITY SAYS THANK YOU.
☑ A strong, fierce and powerful female-lead who doesn’t need a man to be awesome (*GASP*), who has a great job (*GASP*) and whose “hormones” don’t fucking tick (I KNOOW!). Why, she’s not flawless for sure, but she spreads these little vibes of badassery I crave to find in chick-lit heroines.
☑ There’s no slut-shaming involved, because Brooke doesn’t need to belittle other women to be reassured in her own value, and never implies that women should wear or act in a particular way to be interesting.
☑ Love/Hate banter… unfortunately kept to its minimum : indeed while Brooke kept telling the reader that she enjoyed her smart-ass conversations with Cade, the so-called reader (that would be me!) stayed confused as if maybe several pages were missing, because as it was, their conversations were short and the banter never reached the level of snarky retorts I loved in Practice makes perfect. More showing and less telling please.
☑ I didn’t fall in love with Cade (MEH!), but I have to admit that even though several of his comments annoyed me at some point the guy ISN’T a controlling asshole. Am I the only one who’s stunned to see how rare it is? I mean, what should be the norm is the exception! Moreover, all the brothers growing relationship was just so damn cute, I couldn’t help but smile.
► SO WHY THE 2.5 STARS RATING THEN?
☒ There is NO plot. Sadly, as far as the investigation part is concerned, I never could bring myself to care, as it was more a background and an excuse to the romance (and the totally RANDOM meeting) than anything else. HELLO, FILLER! YES, it bored me and sorry, but it isn’t a romantic SUSPENSE. Nope. There is no investigation AT ALL. The guy just happens to be an U.S Attorney, but that’s not enough to make romantic suspense in my book^^
Every time they were trying to make me believe that there was a plot, basically, I –
There’s also some unnecessary drama around Cade’s father and you know what? I SKIMMED sometimes.
Sorry but I can’t put more than 2.5 to a book that drove me to do that.
☒ As often with Julie James, I’m disappointed to see that Brooke is mostly surrounded by men : don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed her conversations with Ford, her best friend, and she never throws mean comments towards other women. However, girl friendship is so rare lately – I’m talking about real friendship, not about this slut-shaming in disguise that drives me nuts – that I would have really appreciated it here.
► By no means an unforgettable book, OF COURSE it’s filled with clichés (they’re both hot, dadadadum) and isn’t free of the tropes of the genre. Nevertheless, if you followed my romance experiment, you saw that I end in a pissed-off state more often than not, and YAY! It wasn’t the case here. That’s why I would almost recommend this book ← Now that I think about it, read Practice Makes Perfect instead 😛
