Guest Review: Yours for the Taking by Robin Kaye

Ames’ review of Yours for the Taking (Domestic Gods, Book 4) by Robin Kaye.

He might be too good to be true…

Ben Walsh should be single. Handsome and wealthy, Ben is equally at home in Idaho where he grew up and in Manhattan where he’s now an art dealer. Suave and successful with impeccable taste, he normally has women beating down his door. But the one woman he wants can’t be convinced that he’s for real…

And she doesn’t have the luxury of believing in fairy tales…

Gina Reyez has fought for every bit of her success, and it’s about time for things to start going her way. So when Ben makes a proposal that will allow her to take care of her family the way she wants to, she agrees. Besides, a guy this perfect would never be interested in her…right?

By the time Gina figures out that she’s read Ben all wrong, their lives have become intertwined, and seriously complicated…

I really wanted to enjoy this novel. Unfortunately, the characters and the story/time-line prevented me from liking this book.

Ben Walsh wants his deceased parents’ ranch, and the only way to get it, according to his grandfather, is to marry. When all the women he asks turn him down, he approaches Gina Reyez, with a business proposition. He makes the marriage sound more like a business proposition-with an open ended expiration date. Because that’s what it will be for both of them. They will marry, but they won’t live together. They’ll appear at public functions together and they will definitely not sleep together. This makes Gina think Ben is gay. He is a great cook and he has an immaculate apartment that he decorated himself. I think Gina likes to stereotype. She agrees for her own reasons. Ever since Gina was a young girl, she’s taken care of her little sister. And now that both women are grown up and her sister is married, Gina still tries to take care of her. So the business of marriage to Ben is a good thing in Gina’s book, it’ll help her set her sister and herself up for life. Gina grew up in poverty and she’s afraid of ending back up there again. So Gina and Ben get married, with Gina trying to hide it from everyone who knows her and Ben flaunting it to his grandfather. The first month, they don’t even see each other as Gina remains in New York and Ben returns to Boise to help out with the family business (his family is filthy rich). However, Ben’s grandfather is a scheming old bugger and he manages to drag Gina to Boise, and Gina and Ben have to put on a happy front for the old man. Will these two be able to resist consummating their marriage of convenience?

Ok, now what didn’t work for me. First of all, Gina. She’s one of those fiercely independent women who will bite their nose off to spite their face. She refuses offers of help, she doesn’t discuss things that will affect her family with her family and she’s a stubborn headed fool who at the first sign of trouble tucks tail and runs. She’s afraid of commitment and she definitely has stereotypes about gay men, rich people and towns other than New York. Needless to say, she got on my nerves. She fought Ben at every turn. Everything and I mean everything was a fight for her. She was a control freak.

Ben also got on my nerves. He just bulldozed over all of Gina’s objections to the way things were going. She thought the house he was looking at was too big. Oh well, too late, he bought it. Gina is afraid of flying, oh well, here’s some vodka, don’t worry about it. And then when his grandfather does something very wily and scheming, he invents this whole big plot about how Gina is out to steal his inheritance from him. Whoa buddy! You have quite the active imagination there.

And what was it with both characters jumping to conclusions? Frustrating, very frustrating.

Also, I mentioned that the timeline bothered me. This book takes place over two months. So the first month, these two aren’t even in the same state. But then Gina goes to Boise with Ben and his grandfather and they spend a few days in Boise and then a week at Ben’s parents’ ranch and then a few days in New York. These two very strong, wills-constantly-clashing characters fall in love that quickly? I don’t think so. That just didn’t work for me. And also, Gina’s overreaction to Ben getting mad at her? Like two weeks of a marriage and you’re willing to give up that quickly? Over one fight? GAH

Unrealistic timeline and two frustrating characters. Yours for the Taking gets 2.5 out of 5 from me.

The series:

This book is available from Sourcebooks. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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