Enjoyable chick-lit holiday reading - quick and easy, this is an effortless read of stunning girl playing hard to get by stunning boy. Predictable but fun. ( )

Lieutenant (and nurse) Magdalena “Maggie” Cruz has returned to her hometown of Pine Gulch, Idaho. While serving in Afghanistan she lost part of her leg, and now that she is back home, she just wants to hide away and to be left alone. Too bad for Maggie that handsome Dr. Jake Dalton seems to always keep coming around trying to help and make things easier for her, whether she wants him to or not. Jake used to be her childhood friend, but now she considers Jake and his family enemies since she believes that Jake’s father was responsible for her father’s death. Jake has always had it bad for Maggie, so he will not be put off so easily.

This was such an absolutely lovely romance. I really felt for Maggie. She was still adjusting to her prosthesis and now she had to live within certain limitations. She longed for her independence and pushed herself too hard, and she was very self-conscious. Jake was such a wonderful hero. He was in love with Maggie and wanted to make things easier for her, to lighten her load, so she could give herself time to heal and become adjusted to her new way of life. He was always so kind, caring, compassionate, and patient with Maggie. Maggie was stubborn every step of the way, but eventually she started to soften towards Jake and see him for the good man that he was. I also loved Maggie’s mother and uncle, and I enjoyed the setting of Pine Gulch, Idaho, and the view of the Grand Tetons. ( )

Pretty much your typical Harlequin romance. ( )

Confession - I only read this because I found it when I was browsing the free Kindle books on Amazon and as I was waiting for another book to be delivered it seemed like an easy way to kill a couple of days instead of starting something a bit more time consuming. Besides, if nothing else I could mock it afterwards, right? More fool me because I actually really, really enjoyed this.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm a bit of a book snob sometimes. I look down my nose at Silhouette and M&B books because they 'aren't real books' and all follow the same plot (handsome/arrogant/rich professional man falls for less successful but equally beautiful woman misunderstanding random drama generic sex scene = HEA the end) silly stuff like that, so I was expecting the usual formulaic stuff. The thing is, despite the formula being the same (handsome doctor & an army nurse) - this book actually had a plot on top of that, and it had culturally diverse characters (seriously, I will never understand why it doesn't happen more) and it also dealt with someone trying to overcome losing part of a limb and, shock/horror didn't gloss over the real issues of insecurity and depression and frustration that would be caused. Not bad for a cheesy romance book, huh?

I liked both main characters - Jake is your stereotypical leading man, handsome, loyal, persistant etc but I didn't mind that he was like that. He felt rounded. Maggie, she was difficult and tormented and infuriating, etc but at the same time, I was glad of that. She had been through something and it affected her and sometimes she was a bitch, and sometimes she felt sorry for herself, and sometimes she wanted everyone else to not feel sorry for her. She wasn't the idea leading lady, but the story was better for that because you wanted her to trust him, to understand that he would do right by her and to stop pushing him away.

Sure, there was a sense of predictability about the proceedings - naturally Jake & Maggie would end up together for example, but despite that, I didn't feel cheated. I would have liked maybe an extra 100 pages to flesh out certain things and I can't help but wonder what direction the author would have taken it in if she wasn't bound by the genres length requirements, but for a free book, I think it's definitely worth a read. There are worst ways to kill a couple of evenings. ( )

I read about 50 pages in before declaring it a non-starter. The amputee heroine fighting bitterness and grief less than six months removed from her injury I was cool with. The doctor hero bossing her around like he knew what was best for her, and the narrative treating this as if he had the right of it, set off my Get Fucked meter.

Just can't be bothered to read yet another angsty-cripple-shown-the-light-by-able-bodied-caregiver romance. Boring.