Title: What The Carpenter Saw
Author: Vicki Reese
Publisher: Dreamspinner
Release Date: August 3, 2016
Genre(s): Contemporary
Page Count: 143
Reviewed by: Gigi
Heat Level: .5 flames out of 5
Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Blurb:
Wounded warrior Jake Cramer returned from the Middle East missing part of one leg and with a partially paralyzed left arm. He feels useless in his family’s construction business, but carpentry is all he knows. He needs to relearn how to work and how to live. He can’t even consider finding a man to love. Who would want him this way?
Alex Ford is a top-of-the-line architect who’s tired of big cities and wants to settle down, maybe run a small inn. The mansion he inherited from his grandparents might be the ticket to his dream, but it needs a lot of work. When he meets the handsome builder, he knows he’s made the right decision. He just needs to convince Jake that his scars don’t matter. Unfortunately Alex’s greedy family has other ideas, and they’re determined to ruin Alex’s plans and take the inheritance for themselves—even if they have to kill to do it.
I hate being the first one to write a review on GR when the review is a negative one. And this is a first-time author so I feel doubly shitty. But the fact of the matter is that this one did not work for me.
The story line is pretty cut and dried, with an ex-military officer, Jake, coming home to work for the family building business after suffering a debilitating injury during combat. He meets a successful man from the big city, Alex, who wants to leave the hustle and bustle of the city behind and settle down to a simpler life in Jake’s small town. The blurb had me hook, line and sinker, but the story left me cold.
What didn’t work:
1. The attraction between the MCs was as close to insta-love as you can get without actually calling it insta-love. And I’m not mistaking insta-LUST with insta-love. Lust hardly came up.
2. The families of the two MCs buddied up too quickly and seamlessly. It was too sappy and unrealistic. Alex’s niece and nephew were calling Jake “Uncle Jake” before a relationship between Alex and Jake even started. (See Family Man by Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton for a more plausible and enjoyable family dynamics romance.)
3. There is a sub-plot centered around an evil person trying to destroy Alex and his sister’s lives. The conflict didn’t seem real and the villain was comical, almost in a twirling-mustache kind of way. I didn’t buy it and it felt like filler.
4. The sex was off page and/or fade-to-black. Which is fine. I don’t need sex to enjoy a M/M romance, but when I said insta-love above, I meant it. There was no lust and no passion here. (OK, so I tried to find a M/M book I liked that didn’t have sex in it to show you I can read M/M w/o sex but couldn’t find one. I didn’t look too long and hard, but nothing is standing out. I’m shallow like that I guess.)
5. Jake’s confidence about his injuries were stereotypical of a hundred other books I have read. “No one will love me because of my scars,” etc. Been there, done that. (B.A. Tortuga did a great job with disfiguring PTSD in Articles of Release.)
6. The ending was a sugar shock of epic proportions. And this is coming from someone who drools for the sugar. (See Strong Enough and Learning to Feel or anything by Cardeno C. for my favorite sugar.) But it didn’t work here. I missed the connection between the MCs so the author wasn’t able to sell me the HEA.
I really do hope some folks will like this and give this new author a try. I wish I had better things to say, but this was too cookie-cutter for me and left me bored and uninspired.
Cannot recommend.
If the subject of carpenters really gets your motor going, I can suggest Fixer-Upper in place of this one. It has a nice slow burn romance with landscaping and carpentry work as a backdrop. And no silly villains and too-friendly family members to get in the way.
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