Chloe Turner thought she was going to marry the perfect man-until her fiancé’s plane crashed. And then she got the really bad news: he’d tried to fake his own death to avoid marrying her. Now America’s most famous bridezilla (a tag she most definitely does not deserve), Chloe escapes to a remote island to avoid the paparazzi. And right next door is a man who just might be the cure
for Chloe’s heartache….
for Chloe’s heartache….
A magnet for wild, complicated women, Max Sullivan is relieved to have finally found someone “normal.” Chloe is his girl-next-door fantasy come to life, and best of all, she gets him. With her, he can be himself, a treasure-hunting millionaire who desperately wants out of his sexy but reckless job. But when Chloe’s notoriety catches up with them, will their torrid romance make it to the mainland?
Chloe and her friend Jenn decide to get away from all of the paparazzi that are hounding Chloe and head to a secluded island for a week – only it’s not quite as secluded as they’d hoped. Fortunately the island also has some damned handsome men on it – namely their neighbors, brothers Elliot and Max. Chloe is quite attracted to Max and decides that she should take his flirting to the next level – she figures it’s been a month since all the shit hit the fan so she deserves a little fun in her life. Max is up for it but only because he believes that Chloe is a staid, “normal” accountant. Max craves normality in his life and decides to have that fling as well.
While Chloe decides that Max is amazing, she also figures out some incredibly troubling truths about Max – truths that no one has discovered in all of his years. You see Max has anxiety issues when it comes to safety. He feels that he’s responsible for everyone…like, the world. While Max is freaked that his charm and smile, that have always disguised his issues, haven’t worked with Chloe, he’s almost relieved that she knows so that he can be himself. But who is Max, really? Does he even know? He’s been such a pretender for so long he has a hard time adjusting with Chloe.
Then of course Chloe is revealed as the Bridezilla from hell. When Max discovers that’s she’s got a hell of a lot more going on in her life than she revealed he’s still smitten enough with her to hang around. But can he really handle life with “regular” Chloe (who’s not so regular) and not just Island Chloe (as she labeled herself)
This was a great book. It was a fun, quick, easy read but it also had enough of serious moments in it to really interest me:
Chloes’s ex-fiance who accused her of being the bride from hell and that’s why he had to fake his own death, he was just a loser. You knew from almost the beginning that there had to be something else going on with him, but you just weren’t sure what it was. I felt so bad for Chloe because she obviously didn’t deserve the moniker yet had to live with it.We hardly got to know the man in the book but I still didn’t like him.
Then there was Chloe’s friend Jenn who was hiding something incredibly important from her but that’s not revealed until later.
Then there was Max. Oy, Max. That man had issues…anxiety issues. As I said he felt he was responsible for everyone and basically he was so busy taking care of everyone else that he couldn’t enjoy life. At first I thought that it was amusing in that he kind of reminded me of the character Aunt Josephine in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. It’s always cold in her house because she’s worried the radiator might explode; she doesn’t want the children to get near the refrigerator because she fears it could topple and crush them; and she refuses to use the telephone for fear of being electrocuted; I think there was something about exploding doorknobs too. For Max it was: he came over to sit by the fire with Chloe and Jenn but only because the fire pit wasn’t large enough and he didn’t want them to build it so high; he asked to go diving with them because they had gotten an instructor off of the bulletin board of the grocery store and how can that person know what he’s doing? It just went on and on, but as the story continued I discovered that it was quite a serious problem and one that would probably follow him forever. Could I have lived with Max? Oh, no. Never in a million years. But Chloe not only could live with him, she found his “quirks” amusing and adorable.
I think what I loved about the book, besides Dahl’s writing that I’m a fan of, was that the hero and the heroine fit together so perfectly. They each had things in their lives that would have put many others off but found that they could live with, work with and love what the other person had to offer. It was a great example of how there’s somebody out there for everyone.
Rating: 4.25 out of 5
Book received by the publisher
Ok, if I take up reading non-m/m again… 😉
lol True. Hey, wait, weren't you reading a Charlaine Harris a few weeks back?
It was a reread that became a dnf. 😀
oh bummer. I've not read any of her stuff though I have all 4 of the Harper Connelly novels that someone gave me. One day. 🙂
OH great review. I have this book up for read/review soon. So now I am really really looking forward to this one. =)
Chris makes me giggle… And I can't believe that a Charlaine Harris was a dnf for her
I hope you are having a great weekend!
Cecile: I've read it at least twice before – does that help? 🙂
Good review Tracy 😀 I really liked Max issues, I thought it was different… but the whole Bridezilla thing. I mean, it was in no way Chloe's fault… but it was sooo frustrating. That's the reason I hate media so much and it really damper the book for me 🙁
Awww, flawed characters that fit. I love those! And all kiding aside… poor Max, that has got to be a tough way to live.
Cecile – Hopefully you'll like it as much as I did. 🙂
Nath – I know, but I figured they must have been desperate for news. And the fact that people (florist, etc) were saying bad things about her just to get on the news really pissed me off.
Hilcia – A very hard way to live, I'll bet. It was interesting that he didn't feel so freaked when it was him doing things because he was in control but when it was others it just got to him. And yes, I loved that the two could find each other.
Thank you Tracy! Hmmm, not sure if it's the book for me, but then I think I'm not in the contemporary zone ATM (if that makes sense 🙂
Orannia – Perfect sense, actually. 🙂