Reviewer: Rowena Brown-Eyed Girl by Lisa Kleypas
Series: Travis Family #4
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: August 11th 2015
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Wedding planner Avery Crosslin may be a rising star in Houston society, but she doesn't believe in love-at least not for herself. When she meets wealthy bachelor Joe Travis and mistakes him for a wedding photographer, she has no intention of letting him sweep her off her feet. But Joe is a man who goes after what he wants, and Avery can't resist the temptation of a sexy southern charmer and a hot summer evening.
After a one night stand, however, Avery is determined to keep it from happening again. A man like Joe can only mean trouble for a woman like her, and she can't afford distractions. She's been hired to plan the wedding of the year-a make-or-break event.
But complications start piling up fast, putting the wedding in jeopardy, especially when shocking secrets of the bride come to light. And as Joe makes it clear that he's not going to give up easily, Avery is forced to confront the insecurities and beliefs that stem from a past she would do anything to forget.
The situation reaches a breaking point, and Avery faces the toughest choice of her life. Only by putting her career on the line and risking everything-including her well-guarded heart-will she find out what matters most.
I’ve been waiting pretty anxiously for this book. Like, for years. I was bummed a few years back when rumors were floating around that Lisa Kleypas said she didn’t have plans to ever write Joe’s story but then Brown Eyed Girl got written and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.
It’s been a while since I read any books in the Travis family series so one of the things that I forgot was that the books were written in first person…in the heroines POV. Most of the heroes in this series are in the Travis family. When I first read Sugar Daddy, it was Hardy that I wanted to read about next. When I read Blue Eyed Devil, it was Jack that I wanted to get to know and while we get to know them through the women that they love, it would have been nice to get in their heads too.
In Brown Eyed Girl, we’re in Avery Crosslin’s head. We get her and Joe’s story through her eyes and I was a bit bummed out by that because it was Joe that I wanted. I wanted to know Joe more and when I put this book down, I didn’t feel like I got enough Joe. I wanted to know more about what happened to him after the accident. I wanted to see him outside of when he was with Avery. I just wanted more of him.
Avery was kind of hard to take in the beginning. She was annoying in that hot and cold, make up your damn mind already way and when she heads to New York and just expected Joe to tag along with her while she rides the celebrity train, I was annoyed. She comes a long way from the beginning to the end but I don’t know, throughout the entire book, I wanted more of things that I didn’t get.
I wanted more of the Travis family. I wanted more Joe. I wanted more Haven and Hardy and because I didn’t get that, I felt a bit let down. Now don’t get me wrong, Lisa Kleypas is a great writer and she turned my feelings where Avery was concerned around but in the end, I didn’t absolutely love it. I just liked it well enough.
Grade: 3 out of 5
This book is available from Piatkus. You can purchase it here. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.