Review

In her debut, Mulry presents a unique voice in contemporary romance.

Advertising whiz Bronte Talbott is an idiot! At least that’s what I thought for the majority of the book, with her neurotic ways of over-analyzing things and believing that she needed to be independent from men. She’s the a-typical, career, American woman and I almost didn’t like her. I only enjoyed her because essentially there’s a part of me that’s Bronte Talbott, and I don’t mean the sailor mouth. I got what she was thinking… totally got it. The men, the dependency, the desire for closeness, and the desperate urge to run from it. She’s that crazy female inside all females screaming to get out.

Mulry establishes Bronte as the crazy woman and then gives her a hero, Max, able to draw her back into the land of sane people. The only hitch he’s technically a British royal, and being royalty tends to make a woman head back to ‘la-la’ land.  I loved Max. He’s patient, understanding, and an absolute sex god. If you need more help envisioning just think of Colin Firth. Max makes me drool, incessantly. There were many moments I wished I was Bronte just to steal him away for myself, though he has his own flaws, which include being used to having everyone tell him yes. My favorite part of the story is when Max has his alpha male moment:

Max looked out the window of the relatively grimy dial-a-car and hid his amusement at Bronte’s idea of extravagance. She was in for a few surprises when she came to London. And it was definitely when she came, because as far as Max was concerned, there was no if about it.

I also enjoyed any and all of Max’s outbursts. He’s just loveable and I want one.

What I loved about the story: The dialogue and the internal thoughts. Both flow like fine wine, and tend to stick to your brain long after. I found myself rewinding the pages on my Kindle just to get another read of a snippet here or there. There’s something unique to how Mulry writes, almost as if the Historical Romance writer is weaving words with a contemporary theme.

What I didn’t like about the story: Bronte about killed me. She had some peak moments where I didn’t feel like she grew. That’s the biggest thing for me in romance novels, growth. The characters must grow. Bronte finally did grow in the area that mattered most, with some yanked toe nails and a bit of insanity. There were also a couple of instances where the arguments were a bit too real for me, more of a personal thing rather than a writing thing.

Overall, I think this is a fabulous debut and a good read. A new voice for contemporary romance, Mulry combines a love for all things British and our insane American tendencies along with a good dose of self-flagellation, and a spackle of humor.