What to say about this? How to rate it?

• Writing: Good to very good. 3-4 Stars.
• Characters who act consistent with themselves, character development: Good to very good. 3-4 Stars
• Setting: Good. 3 Stars
• Plot: Fair. 2 Stars
• Drama, tension: Fair to Good. 2-3 Stars
• Emotional connection between characters and with readers: Bad. 1 Star
• Believable romance. Bad. 1 Star
• Likable characters: Horrible. Negative 10.

The hero, Liam, is unlikable with few redeeming qualities and the heroine, Jaime, is foolish, lets Liam manipulate her yet believes she loves him. Liam has all the least endearing qualities in the Nasty Alpha branch of Harlequin Presents land:

• Double standard in spades. He makes no secret of his past affairs yet holds Jaime in contempt for her past supposed transgressions.
• He’s terribly jealous of any man she smiles at, much less hugs.
• He instantly assumes she is on the make, a gold digger when he encounters her 2 years prior with an older, suave married lady killer at a conference hotel. I have personally seen younger ladies swept up in romantic imaginings, believing they are in love with older men with the guy acting as a combination experienced, tender wooer, mentor, safe crush. Girls allow older men’s admiration and pursuit to charm and flatter, perhaps seduce. But I have never seen a young girl, late teens, early 20s, fall for an older man solely for his money. (And if you think of it, a married man with kids, a wife, a mortgage, bills and college isn’t going to have a ton of extra cash to splash about on a young girlfriend.)
• Yet Liam is convinced that Jaime is with older man Gerald solely for his money. He is beyond cynical. Instead of pointing out that Liam is hurting himself and betraying his nasty mind Jaime tries over and over to prove she is innocent.
• He talks her into accompanying him to Kentucky as a shield against his former fiancée, now the wife of his Kentucky host. Yet he claims that the only reason he asked her to come and she agreed was to sleep together. He plans to tell his brother, to whom Jaime had been engaged when she met Liam, that she pretended to be his fiancée to get into his bed.
• The worst thing? Liam does not, can not trust Jaime or anyone. Jaime herself points out that even if he believes her on one point, he’ll instantly suspect the worst the next time anything happens. He even suspects her of chasing another man, their host in Kentucky, when she and the host celebrate his horse’s race victory.

Jaime knows he’s not going to love her, that he’ll always suspect her, that he’ll never cut her slack, but she believes she “loves” him two weeks after meeting. Kay Thorpe tries to show a happy ever after ending with Liam pledging to start again from scratch on their wedding night. Since he staged their wedding night at the same hotel where he saw her with her older supposed lover, this doesn’t ring true. He may have regretted being so vicious, but that won’t last.

I do not find the romance credible. I think Jaime is in for a miserable time with a nasty, suspicious husband to whom she will constantly have to justify herself until she finally decides that even great physical compatibility does not compensate for living with a hateful man.

Overall rating: 2 Stars

I got my copy from eBay in a book lot and you can probably find copies on many used book sites, including Thriftbooks. I didn’t see a copy on Amazon when I wrote this review.