Thursday, April 30, 2015

The Man from Coral Bay Review

Title: The Man from Coral Bay
Author: Jan Andersen
Line: Romance
Publisher: Harlequin
ISBN: 037301709x
Website: http://www.harlequin.com
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Since his wife left him, Rossi’s brother needed her help.  Rossi flew to Ceylon to find things were worse than she thought.  It seem all the problems came from the problematic neighbor, Matt Lincoln.  Loyalty made her choose her brother’s side, but can she see the truth and find the love of her life?

The burning question on my mind was “when did they fall in love?”  If you really think about it, they probably spent less than 8 hours in each other company.  And when they do run into each other, it was in either in crisis or she throwing baseless accusations at him.  So, their sudden declaration of love at the final last 2 pages came out of left field.  The story spent too much time on her other love interest.  And it wasn’t a good comparison since their differences were just nitpicking at best.  Conclusively, if you are looking for romance, you will not get here. 

However, the plot was full of good drama that was kind of addictive and did move pretty quickly but felt you were just spinning your wheels. The story was technically Rossi needing Matt’s help at every opportunity.  The characters were generally portrayed well.  There was no real character growth until the last chapter, where all was revealed.  I liked Matt.  As the hero, he was sensible and didn’t throw his weight around.  On the other hand, Rossi was a little naïve, believing everyone’s opinion than rather making her own.  I own that to her youth.  Rossi’s brother played his villain role well but I honestly didn’t get his hatred.  The story had potential but didn't utilize it characters well.

I love vintage Harlequin Romances but this story didn’t do it for me.  With the lack of romance, decent story line, no character growth and lack of the hero’s presence, made this a miss for me. Note: This was a clean romance.    

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