Customer Reviews

Taming Rowan

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

 

 

In her exhilarating debut novel, "Taming Rowan," Suzanne Barrett proves that she has all the qualities great romance writers are made of. She mixes just the right amount of intrigue and sensuality to keep her readers on the edge of their seats. Barrett has written a refreshing, enjoyable romance and after reading this book, you'll find yourself wanting more from this talented new author!

If you like your heroes manly and mysterious with a dash of boyish charm, TAMING ROWAN is for you. He's maddening and mesmerizing, handsome and human in just the right combination, and heroine Karin-- intelligent, sensitive, womanly--leads him on a merry chase in a lush English setting.

New author Suzanne Barrett's fine writing is fresh and fun--a joy to discover. I predict she is one writer who will go far. Carolyn Woolston (writing as Lynna Banning)

Karin knew the project officer on her next assignment was male and didn't like women, but she figured she can handle the old crotchety fellow anyway. What she didn't anticipate was that he would be a handsome hunk of a young man and that he would still feel that way.

This author has created a fun premise for her story. She takes an attractive young woman who does a traditionally male job and puts her on-site for said job in an isolated area. Not only must Karin prove her worth as an engineer, she has to deal with the scorn of her boss and the fact that she must share quarters with him due to limited housing. With all this conflict in a cramped travel trailer and a small office, you can all but feel the smoldering fire burst into flame.

Rowan loved once and got burned. He doesn't care if Karin looks like a goddess, he's not interested. And she looks too much like his ex-wife anyway. Ms. Barrett makes him a brash, belligerent character that has a heart there somewhere, but he's not using it. She makes Karin pretty, intelligent, and independent and the two characters clash quite often throughout the story. Rowan is drawn to her and doesn't want to be and Karin doesn't always do what she's told like a good girl. I could easily relate to Karin. Being independent myself, I found it easy to empathize with her position in life.

Watching these two do battle with each other is the most amusing part of the story. There is explicit sex in the story, but it fits. It's part of Rowan trying to come to terms with his feelings for Karin. Even the story of their engineering feat is good reading. The smaller characters are all interesting, too. This author has created a "family" of engineers. Having the story set in England is an additional bonus. You even get to walk the fell with Karin and Rowan.

Why not get a copy of this book for you and watch these two fight their way to love? It's a very good read.

Originally posted at Whipped Cream Reviews

Reviewed at Another Look Book Reviews


Taming Rowan is a romance book but it was really well researched regarding structural engineering and telemetry. Ok I admit I haven't a clue what that means but being that my real life job is project management, I can tell you that the details and business formulas used in the book closely relate to real life. It is always a pleasure to read stories where the reader feels confident that the writer researched their information.

Karin is an engineer and in a primarily male dominated field and I was impressed. She seemed to be a mathematical genius and understood team dynamics. Unfortunately with Karin using the left side of her brain so much for logic and details her right side seemed to be severely lacking. Clearly Karin was extremely immature in a social dating situation and I feel Rowan took advantage of her weakness.

Karin after all these years was still a virgin. Lots of women get so focused on school and their profession that they miss out on the dating part of living. But after having sex with Rowan only a second time, she was already demanding marriage and couldn't figure out what the holdup would be.

Rowan was a male character that I disliked immensely and after reading the entire book, my view never changed. Starting right off with his male chauvinistic views on working with women right down to the head games and mixed messages he kept sending off to Karin. Every time Rowan would talk down to Karin (which is pretty much every single conversation) the result would be Karin thinking comments like "if he thinks he can play games with me, he can think again" or "I can play the game his way, if I had to" but then she does nothing to follow through.

Karin came off as a very weak female and I truly lost respect for her. It was always Karin who had the bad dream, Karin who slipped on the rocks, Karin who got lost, Karin who got hurt etc. She was like the dumb girl in the movie that trips when someone is chasing her. Even her professional mannerism started to falter when she promised an alcoholic co-worker (who treats her badly) that she'd cover for him by not telling the project manager that he is an alcoholic and she'd check his work for him.

The book cover is beautiful and I kept thinking that was exactly what Karin looked like. I love when a character and the book cover model represent well. The setting in England was lovely and I did appreciate the English dialect seemed as accurate as possible. I loved that the accents weren't ridiculous and appeared very natural. The secondary characters in Taming Rowan were very enjoyable and their conversations and actions were very interesting. The writing itself was well planned and organized. My only problem with Taming Rowan was that I just didn't care for either of the protagonists and unfortunately that is the biggest part of the story.


Story Teasers: England, darts, male woodsy scent, Marmalade