Review: Stealing Phin by Avery Hale

Posted September 27, 2013 by Holly in Reviews | 0 Comments

spHolly’s review of Stealing Phin (The Phinegan Swift Adventures in Life and Love series, Book 1) by Avery Hale

What better way to heal your first broken heart than by finding your first true love?

Twenty-two year old Phinegan Swift is a hopeless romantic–a true believer in love. That is, until Douglas, her high-powered lawyer boyfriend and boss, betrays her. Completely devastated by his betrayal, she runs off to Costa Rica for a week with her best friend, Dez, to heal her broken heart and to find her sense of self again.

Instead, she finds Byron Michaels, a handsome and mysterious stranger who harbors a secret that Phin just can’t figure out. All she knows is that Byron is a thief…First, he tries to steal her luggage, then he steals her massage, and finally, he tries to steal Phin’s heart. Who is Byron? What hidden agenda has him following Phin all over Costa Rica? And why is he the only thing that works to keep Phin distracted from her heartache?

Just as Phin’s heart begins to heal, things take a dramatic turn when Byron betrays Phin in his own way. Then, as she’s reeling from this, someone from Phin’s past shows up to win her back…or so he claims.

Will Phin have gained enough clarity to make the right choice? Will Phin be able to see both Douglas and Byron for who they really are? Will she do what her head tells her, or will she do what she always does…and follow her heart?

 

This was a fast read. I zipped through it in a matter of hours.

Phin is having a bad time of it. She walked in on her boyfriend cheating on her and is using her trip to Costa Rica to get away from the pain. Unfortunately that isn’t working. She wants to let go and be free, but she can’t since she’s still stuck on the cheating bastard.

When she meets Byron Matthews she immediately hates him. Mostly because she’s attracted to him when she doesn’t want to be. She vows to stay away from him but they keep running into each other.

This started out a kind of silly romp. Phin keeps getting into silly scrapes and kind of bumbling her way through her post-breakup feelings. Though that isn’t really my cuppa, I can’t deny I was enjoying it.

Unfortunately, as the novel wore on, Phin wore on my nerves. She continually made poor decisions that went against common sense and found herself in bad situations because of them. Once or twice was silly and fun. After that I began to get impatient and annoyed. Had I been able to suspend disbelief I may have enjoyed it more. In the end I was honestly surprised Phin hadn’t gotten herself kidnapped, raped or dead and that wasn’t amusing to me.

Though this didn’t work for me, I do believe there’s an audience for it. Fans of slapstick comedies along the lines of Evanovich’s Plum series should enjoy this.

3 out 5

This book is self-published. You can buy it here or here in e-format.


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