Tuesday, May 27, 2014

What It Takes by Kathryn Ascher, A Review ★

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Today is the release date for What It Takes by Kathryn Ascher

Book Description

After graduating college, Kelsey Morgan left her small-town Virginia roots to make it in LA. After years slogging in commercials and music videos, her movie career is finally taking off. But she's still miles behind her current costar, and Hollywood playboy, Patrick Lyons. Kelsey does everything she can to avoid Patrick off-set, hoping to not become fodder for the supermarket tabloids that scour the streets for Patrick, trying to get an exclusive look at him and his alleged woman of the week. Kelsey has successfully kept Patrick at a distance, and her reputation intact, until her drunkard brother-in-law Richard threatens to ruin everything by selling her darkest secret to the highest bidder. Now the victim of blackmail, Kelsey has nowhere else to turn but to Patrick's arms. But, can he be trusted? Or will the past destroy them all before she can find out if he's the hero she needs?
Review

I received an eARC copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Here is my honest review.

The first thing I wrote down in my notebook when regarding how to review this book:
This book made me want to throw my Kindle.
That is extreme for me. I love romance stories - they are a great escape and since they are predictable (you know there will be happy ending) they don't require a lot of stress reading them. If this had been the first romance book I had ever read, I am not sure I would read another. The heroine, Kelsey, was annoying and it is her character that really soured this book for me. I thought her attitude towards getting pregnant out of wedlock was incredibly archaic. The fact that she was ashamed to the point of having to hide her pregnancy and the steps she took to keep it hidden even years later really struck me as old-fashioned and weak. While I consider myself to be very conservative when it comes to morals, I don't buy the extreme amount of shame that Kelsey carries over getting pregnant out of wedlock. I also found the supporting characters of Veronica and Grayson to be shallow and frustrating as well. Grayson was a jerk and I couldn't fathom why Kelsey considered him such a friend. And her mother - I don't buy that either. Sure, moms have been disapproving of their children's actions and choices for generations...but to carry it to the extreme and her father never stepping up and confronting her. I can't imagine any mother taking an abusive husband's side over her daughter. 
The one redeeming element of this story was Patrick, the hero. Even though he lacked depth as a character, I did like as I felt that he was very genuine and did not exhibit any of his tabloid persona in the book. 

I gave this book: 

★ = I did not like it     ★ = It was okay     ★ = I liked it    
★ = I really liked it     ★ = I loved it

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