Bending the Rules

- Susan Andersen -

Susan Andersen is typically on of my favorite contemporary romance writers and, while this one was characteristically fast paced with mostly relatable characters, it also felt a bit lacking in a few area.

Andersen is usually the master at building the sexual tension between the leads, but the tension and the relationship itself felt was more erratic here. Poppy and Jason were both immediately attracted to each other and it felt like the reasoning for their bickering and trying to ignore the attraction were either fairly contrived or swept away as soon as it was convenient.

Jason's constant references to how he was a de Sanges man and therefore unable to love or interact in a normal manner felt a bit over done too. It's one think to have hangups related to your family or childhood, it's another to rigidly cling to these hangups despite all evidence to the contrary.

Finally the thing that really drove me INSANE reading this was the way language was used, primaryily with the dialogue: so may 'you betchas', "ohmigawd", and other types of contractions and slang that I guess is supposed to convey speak patterns, etc especially amongst the teenagers in the story, but is so prevalent and irritating to read that it just started to become nonsensical for me.

This is definitely one of Susan Andersen's weaker efforts in my opinion.