Title:
Coming in Last Author:
Shiloh WalkerGenre: Contemporary erotic romance
Grade: B
Reason for Reading: From her comments on the blogs I read, I think Shiloh is full of awesome and win. But the couple of short stories I've read by her left me cold so I thought I'd try a longer work.
Synopsis: Jamie McAdams expected it to be an open and shut case of embezzlement. The finger
seemed to be pointed right at Andi Morrow, the quiet young lady who ran the daycare
center at his godfather's plant. Of course, she didn't exactly have access to the
cash, but she did live seriously outside her means.
Andi smelled like vanilla, tasted like sex, and moved like sin. It only took a few
days for Jamie to realize he was hooked, and she was being framed. But maybe he should
have told her that, before they used her as bait to catch the real embezzler.
Jamie always gets his man, even if it means coming in last with the woman he's fallen
in love with.
My Thoughts: Man, I gotta say, I loved this synopsis. No breathless purple prose, a sexy enough description, and what's more, it's accurate. Which is good, because if I can copy and paste something good, I'd much rather do that.
Anyway, I enjoyed this book. Andi and Jamie are nice, likeable people with real issues. And y'all know how I feel about strong heroines. Andi was wonderful here. She'd had a rough life, but she wasn't a walking neurosis, and her trust issues felt genuine.
Jamie also struck me as a real guy that one might find outside a romance novel. He was fun, witty, and pursued Andi relentlessly without swerving into "me Tarzan. You Jane" territory.
The plot? Well, it's light. You pretty much know who the villain is early on, and it's not very hard to guess what's going to happen. But I wasn't bored, since Ms. Walker did such a great job with her characters. I was rooting for them, and wanted everything to be all right.
Oh, also, I have to say that it was refreshing to see that there were consequences for Andi to her being investigated. There were real repercussions to the work that Jamie was doing, and the resultant chaos in Andi's career was left open-ended. Which is nice, because in this case I think had Ms. Wlker tied that little plot thread up with a bow I'd have been less impressed.
If I have any quibbles, it's that the villain is of the cardboard, moustache-twirling,
"I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids!" brand. Which made the suspenceful climax, well, just a bit less so since I couldn't take him seriously.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and I will be reading more full-length stories by Ms. Walker. Because sometimes you need literary popcorn--something light, but filling and oh so good.
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satisfied
