My room is such a mess ^_^; I have books laying around everywhere... I've been meaning to clean up... but I've been spending my time on facebook instead... playing games ^_^; Another complaint before starting the review... How come the bookstore has received all the Zebra Kesington releases that are coming out tomorrow except for Marry Christmas by Jane Goodger? How come? Does that mean I'm going to have to order Marry Christmas? ugh.
Addicted to Love by Lori Wilde
published by Grand Central Publishing in October 2008
Growing up in Valentine, Texas, can make anyone believe in happily ever after. But newly declared recovering romantic Rachael Henderson has decided that love stinks. After having not one but two grooms ditch her at the altar, she announces her disenchantment in an uncharacteristic act of rebellion. She feels liberated...until she's arrested by Sheriff Brody Carlton. Once upon a time, being hauled against the taut, rippling body of her first crush would have had Rachael planning the wedding of the year. Now it spurs her to created Romanceaholics Anonymous, a twelve-step program for love addicts. Soon all of Valentine is divided as die-hard romantics clash with antilove cynics. But when Rachael starts fantasizing about a lust-filled affair with Brody, she goes against everything the program stands for. Should she protect her fragile heart...or find a way to have her wedding cake and eat it too?
Genre: contemporary romance
Series: Wedding Veil Wishes series, Book #3
The Story: Rachael has grown up in Valentine, Texas... a town who celebrates Valentines and romance... However, she becomes quite disillusioned after being jilted at the altar a second time and after learning her parents are getting a divorce after 20-something years of marriage. To show her disenchantment with romance, Rachael creates Romanceaholics Anonymous, a twelve-step program for love addicts and people who tend to romanticize their life... However, it's very hard for Rachael to adhere to her own rules when sexy sheriff Brody Carlton keeps showing up and helping her out.
My Opinion: The reason why I had to get Addicted to Love was mainly because I was looking for a small-town romance book and this fit the bill... and this was definitively a good choice :)
The first scene of the book was extremely cute and gives the tone to the whole book. Rachael is angry and it's totally understandable and she takes out her anger on Valentine's symbol. LOL, I could just imagine her, painting huge lips in black in her wedding dress :P Just too cute!!! I really enjoyed Rachael's character... yes, she's disillusioned, but she doesn't blame others (well except Valentine)... but as Holly said, she doesn't become a man-hater and that's greatly appreciated. Instead, she takes responsibility... knowing that she romanticized her fiancés and all the situations she's been in too much... She decides to change and I think that was nice. As a result, she doesn't rush into this relationship with Brody and when her ex-fiancé comes back to her at the end, she knows exactly what happened, what went wrong, why their relationship did not work.
I really enjoyed Brody's character. He was a great hero, very balanced in my opinion. Brody lost his best friend in the 9/11 tragedy which pushed him to enlist and go to Iraq. While in Iraq, he lost his leg and then, his wife left him. I like that Brody's character was complex... He's not this alpha male, totally sure of himself and his sex appeal. He actually has a lot to worry... He came back to his hometown and became sheriff and won't let a prosthetic leg hinder him. With all he went through, Brody is a brave man and I think Ms Wilde handled the situation perfectly. We have a just enough angst from Brody to make him interesting and give him some depth, but not too much to drown the readers in. Yes, there were some self-doubts... but it doesn't stop him from pursuing Rachael... and there's none of the "I'm not good enough for her" inner battle. Thank you very much Ms Rachael.
Overall, the relationship between Brody and Rachael was very cute. Brody and Rachael were neighbors when they were younger and than Brody moved away. He was Rachael's first crush and the first boy who broke her heart. It was great to see Brody falls in love with Rachael, remembers some stuff that happened between them in the past. I loved how Brody didn't push Rachael into their relationship and waited till she realized her feelings on her own. My favorite part is when Brody wonders what would have happened if he didn't move? If Rachael and him didn't lose contact? If they kept growing next door to each other... That was extremely sweet I think :)
I have to admit that I wasn't too fond of the whole "Romanceaholic Anonymous" idea... I mean, it's hard to define love and romance and what's good and what's not... and how are you sure it's going to work and not. I also don't really like those story plots that make the whole town divided... but Ms Wilde handled it well... so kudos.
Aside from Brody and Rachael, there were two side stories... the first one was Rachael's parents... After 29 (?) years of marriage, they are getting a divorce... I didn't mind Rachael's parents story too much. The whole mess is due to some lack of trust... In my opinion, Rachael's mother should have pushed for the truth all those years ago... even if it would have hurt, even if it could have broken things... It was better for her to know if her husband cheated on her or not, then spend 20-odd years not being able to trust her husband and his feelings for her. I guess they were both at fault... It was kind of sad to see the father trying to win back the mother, but not knowing what to do :(
The second side story was about the mayor, his opponent and the election. That one, I could have done without. I didn't connect with neither characters and actually skimmed pass their parts. The storyline might have been important because of the division in the town, but yeah, didn't much care for it.
In conclusion, this was a great, sweet story :) I really enjoyed Brody and Rachael and I'm glad I gave this a chance. It was much better than the first book in the series, There Goes the Bride, which you really don't need to read to understand what's happening in this book.
My Grade: B+. If you're in the mood for small-town story or a sweet, cute story... this is it :D
