Customer Reviews

Dying To Marry (Zebra Romantic Suspense)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book, by reading the back cover was what one might expect. Girl leaves town, girl returns to town and reclaims her first love... Well Holly left her hometown and left Jake, her boyfriend, and her group of friends behind for a better life. Being the town's 'misfit' when Holly was going through school, along with her 'misfit' friends... A book, which I was glad to pick up at the library and not waste 6 dollars on, would not be as welcomed on my bookshelf along with the others I have. Spend the 6 dollars on a great book and not a page dragger...

This book was a big disappointment for me as this was the first time I've ever read Ms. Taylor and I was looking forward to a good romantic suspense.

Why the low rating you ask? First off, who were the main characters suppose to be. We learned more about the secondary characters Lizzie and Dylan than we did Holly and Jake. This storyline had great potential. They grew up together and had deep feeling for each other but a misunderstanding tore them apart. Now a wedding brings Holly back to town after 10 years Jake and Holly see each other for the first time. Were there sparks? No...in fact they were together so little, the ending (the happily ever after...for everyone) was cliched and...rather a let down.

This was a story that was billed as a suspense. Where was the suspense. The cast of characters was small and the "baddie" had to come from them in order for it to be a "personal" attack issue. At one point I didn't care who the bad guy was.

The ending was rushed. Over two hundred pages was taken to bring our lovers together (I'm counting both couples here...) and the ending was summed up in less than five pages. Okay...why did it take over two hundred pages to bring us to that point?

I'll try another read by Ms. Taylor before I consider not reading her again. I hope that another of her efforts is better than this one. If you do want to read this story I recommend that you borrow it from a friend, or purchase it secondhand.

Official Reviewer for www.romancedesigns.com

I have read several Janelle Taylor titles and have enjoyed all of them in the past. This book seems like it was written by someone else! It's just not realistic. The way the characters speak and their actions are stupid and unbelievable. I'm half way through the book and I am going to finish it, but I would suggest borrowing it from the library and not purchasing it.

This book was so bad that I pretty much predicted the entire ending before the 30th page. The romance between the two main characters was tepid, the story line was dull, and there were so many other characters in the book that you never really knew who the book was supposed to be about. What really peeved me was the ludicrously bad stereotypical characters--they were either so bad they were slime off the devil's tush or so good that their halos never needed to be shined. The descriptions of the past at the character's high school read like something out of those stupid slam books that were so popular in 70's (write mean things about a certain person on each page & then read what others have written). Dumb, dumb, dumb.

I stumbled across this book at the library, looking for a new author and read the Prologue thinking it sounded halfway interesting. Unfortunately, the author's writing style fails to capture the reader's heart. There is a very important reason for the saying "Write what you know." As the reader, I never felt a conection to the character's emotions, because I don't feel the author had enough experience with the subject. It's not enough to state the facts or that Jake and Holly had been in love with each other almost their entire lives without ever admitting to it out loud. To really pull the reader in to a romance, the author needs to put heart felt emotion behind the words. A good book will make the reader laugh when something is funny, cry when a character's heart is breaking or bite your lower lip when the suspense is so intense you can't turn the pages fast enough. Unfortunately, this book failed in all areas. It was just an average read. I wish I could say something more positive, but I just was not impressed. Maybe, it was just this particular book and not necessarily the author in general. I think this was one of her first novels and it could be that she just needs more practice.

Is it worth buying?
Probably not for the price.

I read this book with the hopes of it being up to Ms. Taylor past books and I found it lacking. I knew who the "bad guy" was within the fist 75 pages so the ending was anti-climatic. The love story between the two leading players, Jake and Holly was; in my opinion, not even believeable becuase it seemed like the conclusion of the book was rushed to give them having a happy ever after ending plus we knew more about Lizzie and Dylan who were suppose to be secondary players in this book. It made me wish she had of just told their story with Jake and Holly as secondary players. Oh well better luck next time........