She's Got the Look by Leslie Kelly

Wendy at Paperback Reader sent me this one to read and I finally got around to reading it. And now that I've read it, I'd say that I agree with their review of the book, but in the end, I did rather enjoy it more than they did.

Newly divorced and back in her hometown, Melody Tanner is ready to change her life for the better. Her girlfriends think it's the perfect time to revisit the lists they came up with as a joke at Melody's bachelorette party - a list of five men they could sleep with no matter what.

But when Melody looks at her list, she discovers two of the men are already dead. Worse, the homicide detective she contacts just happens to be her #1, former Marine Nick Walker.

Nick isn't taking the coincidental deaths too seriously, until the other two men on the list die suspiciously. Melody thinks the only way to keep Nick alive is to let him go. But Nick's willing to take the risk. Besides, if he does have to check out, there's no place he'd rather do it than in Melody's arms...

I have to say that this is about the most misleading back cover blurb I've read. I rather feel sorry for the author because of it. Makes me wonder if whoever wrote it actually read the book. Or read a rather different version than I did. Melody certainly isn't thinking about her listguys dying when she pushes Nick away, she's just being a coward. It rather irks me that the back cover blurb is so misleading, giving an expectation of one thing and delivering with quite a different one.

Ultimately, She's Got the Look reminds me of a long Harlequin Blaze. In fact, it probably could be shortened and released as one. Now I enjoy Blazes every once in awhile, so I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad one, it's just that things don't start to pick up until the second half and even then, I can't seem to figure out what took so many pages to tell. Even in this length, Melody and Nick's relationship seems a bit of a rush. The first time they have sex I was actually rather disappointed in the author as I kept wishing the lead up of dinner and conversation would actually allow these two some much needed talk. Instead, we get some hot and heavy sx that is supposed to be so emotional. Hence why it reminds me of a Blaze. Hopping into bed as a replacement for the getting-to-know-you phase.

There are some other things I think back on that I didnt really like. I would've liked it if Melody had come to a decision regarding her husband and his impact on her life before his scene. That scene just lessened my liking of Melody and gave an easy out to her problems regarding relationships. It was just completely unnecessary and served only to tie up a loose end.

You know, after really thinking about this book, I do seem to dislike it more than I thought I did. Well, I guess ultimately it's rather fluffy and insubstantial. It's not so bad when you get to the second half, but if you do read it, try not to think too much of it afterwards.

I do have several other Leslie Kelly books in my TBR pile that I'll get to. Perhaps she's just better at writing in the shorter category format.