Ames’ review of Close Enough to Touch by Victoria Dahl.
For makeup artist Grace Barrett, Hollywood isn’t the land of golden opportunity. It’s the land of difficult divas, cheating boyfriends and unemployment. So when her great-aunt offers her a free place to stay in Jackson Hole, Grace thinks she’ll spend a little time in the sticks to figure out her life, and then move somewhere exciting to live out her dreams. But it turns out that there are a few more thrills in this small town than Grace was expecting .Cole Rawlins is a rugged Wyoming cowboy born and bred. Yet he can’t help but be drawn to the fascinating big-city girl who moves in across from him. He wants to get close enough to Grace to see past her tough facade, but if he does, she might see the real Cole. The one with a Hollywood history gone bad. As they discover a sizzling attraction, it becomes harder for him to keep his demons at bay—and those fires from long ago may burn them both.
They’ll need more than scorching-hot passion to make this opposites-attract affair work. But if they can learn to trust one another enough to reveal their secrets, they just might have a chance at forever.
I enjoy Victoria Dahl’s writing but I have to admit, Close Enough to Touch did not float my boat.
Grace Barrett is a make-up artist who is in a bit of a bind. She’s come to Jackson, Wyoming to stay in her great-aunt’s apartment rent-free while she makes some money to head off to Vancouver for a new start. She kind of left her reputation in tatters in LA and she desperately needs a new start. She also may be running away from the law, if her ex-boyfriend presses charges against her.
Cole is a cowboy with a bum hip. He was in an accident that broke the hip bone so he can’t ride right now. And it’s killing him! He wants to work so he can save money to buy the ranch he’s working on. He’s chomping at the bit to get back on a horse but his hip isn’t healing fast enough. And then Grace blows into town and he’s interested. He’s also wary, because when he was younger he got involved with an actress and it definitely left a sour taste in his mouth. He wants nothing to do with Hollywood ever again. When a movie starts filming on his ranch, a nightmare from his past shows up.
I found Close Enough to Touch predictable. And the characters annoyed the snot out of me. I did not like Grace. She had a bad attitude and I did not like how she ran away from her actions. I found that very immature and I knew her past would catch up to her somehow, and it did, very predictably.
And Cole. He just rubbed me the wrong way. He was stubborn about his leg healing, and yeah, it’s true to how a guy like him would be in a real life – wanting to get back on his feet before his body is ready and that’s why it was annoying. It fit the cliché. He also had his past Hollywood issues that led to a misunderstanding between him and Grace (also Grace jumped to conclusions, grrr). And then I felt like he had some daddy issues that popped up conveniently to wrapping up the plot.
I hate to say all this because I am a fan of Victoria Dahl. But I did not like these characters or the way their story unfolded. 2.75 out of 5.
This book is available from Harlequin. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
You can read more from ~ames~ at Thrifty Reader.
I actually kind of liked it. I did find Grace kind of off putting, but she grew on me throughout the book. I didn’t feel like her annoying moments were due to…well…annoyingness but rather to her major psychological issues. I guess I cut her a little slack for that reason. Cole was likable enough, and I appreciated that he did finally get how screwed up he was too rather than continuing to blame it all on Grace. It was not my fav Victoria Dahl, but I still enjoyed it. I think I might be in the minority though, as lots of people really seemed to dislike this one!
I nodded my way through that whole routine. Oh well, you win some and you lose some. =)
I had a similar reaction to it. I’ll go ahead and read the next one to be sure, maybe it was just these characters.
Meh, sounds like a book I can skip. I haven’t read any of her books in a while 🙁 It’s unfortunate contemporary romance has become so predictable… and it’s bad when the characters don’t get you hooked.