No. 22: Impulse

Impulse by Nora Roberts

This is an OLD Nora Roberts book - I found it in our Jeep when we cleaned it out to sell it. It had a price sticker from the half price book store in Des Moines (where I have not lived since 2005) and it had a bookmark on page 11. So apparently I started it, lost it, and forgot about it completely for 6ish years. I imagine this is not the first time it has happened to me.

Anyway this book was okay, I really loved the plot, but the characters and execution were only so-so. I mean, not that I could actually write a better book than Nora Roberts (because I am almost positive I cannot) but when I read the back cover the story that popped into my mind was WAY better than reality.

Nevertheless, the actual book was pretty okay - a very boring, safe accountant decides to start living her life and to be adventerous for the first time. She quits her job, sells everything she has and goes to tour Europe. I am telling you right now, if I was single and without kids I would immediately begin figuring out how I could do the same. It sounds awesome! She ends up in Greece where she meets a very handsome stranger who starts to romance her. All good so far right, this book seems really good at this point. But then, tragically, it starts to go down hill. The MMC is kind of jerky and sort of angry (and not in a good way) and the FMC is about to SERIOUSLY overreact and ruin everything by being too sensitive and stupid. And I hate that.

There are some books where the MMC can be kind of jerky and angry but it is somehow very compelling and sexy. And there are some books where the FMC can misunderstand situations or the MMC's feelings about her and react badly but it is good because then the MMC is forced to find her or otherwise resolve the misunderstanding and profess his love for her and  live happily ever after. I LOVE those kind of books. Perhaps in the top 5 of kinds of romance novels I love. But this book didn't quite make it. It was going there, it started so good, but the characters didn't do it for me.