Bad News Cowboy (Maisey Yates)
3.5 stars
After reading Eli's and Connor's stories, I was pretty excited to read the story of the last Garrett sibling. The set-up is promising: Jack is the bad boy womanizer who never wanted to settle down. He is the best friend of Eli and Connor, and in that sense he knows Kate since she was practically a child. Meanwhile, Kate, being brought up by two brothers, is the tomboy. She is feisty, strong-headed, and definitely not the 'feminine' kind. I wonder how it would turn out -- how Jack finally saw that Kate in a different light.
Unfortunately, I was having a bit of difficulty to fully invested in Jack and Kate as a couple. I think my biggest issue was Kate herself. I just thought that she was way too prickly in here. I kind of get the idea -- she has never been attracted with guys before. Kate spent most of her life around men, with two protective brothers as well as Jack. She knows to talk like a man but not necessarily to deal with them as an opposite sex. It made her quite innocent in the 'game'. Her new attraction towards Jack made Kate restless, but in that restlessness it made her lashed out on Jack, and THAT I found hard to connect with. I didn't see their dialogs as witty amusing banters; instead, I found myself being annoyed few times with how Kate snapped on Jack.
It was quite unbalanced because at the same time, I did like Jack. Yes, he was the bad boy, the one who refused to settle down, the one who breaks heart of many women. But reading more about Jack's inner thoughts, it was easy to see Jack differently. His own father dismissed him and his mother, and Jack has been clinging to his friendship with Eli and Connor as a replacement for the family he yearned the most. Heck, this guy was willing to get involved with the charity event to help abused wives! There was so much of Jack than what he was shown outside. And it made me really pissed off that NOBODY championed for him. That even Liss, who claimed that she loved Jack as a brother, saw him as bad news for Kate. This guy bare his heart and soul first, people!!
In overall, I still liked it, but not as much as I did the first two.
The ARC is provided by the publisher via Netgalley for an exchange of fair and honest review. No high rating is required for any ARC received.
After reading Eli's and Connor's stories, I was pretty excited to read the story of the last Garrett sibling. The set-up is promising: Jack is the bad boy womanizer who never wanted to settle down. He is the best friend of Eli and Connor, and in that sense he knows Kate since she was practically a child. Meanwhile, Kate, being brought up by two brothers, is the tomboy. She is feisty, strong-headed, and definitely not the 'feminine' kind. I wonder how it would turn out -- how Jack finally saw that Kate in a different light.
Unfortunately, I was having a bit of difficulty to fully invested in Jack and Kate as a couple. I think my biggest issue was Kate herself. I just thought that she was way too prickly in here. I kind of get the idea -- she has never been attracted with guys before. Kate spent most of her life around men, with two protective brothers as well as Jack. She knows to talk like a man but not necessarily to deal with them as an opposite sex. It made her quite innocent in the 'game'. Her new attraction towards Jack made Kate restless, but in that restlessness it made her lashed out on Jack, and THAT I found hard to connect with. I didn't see their dialogs as witty amusing banters; instead, I found myself being annoyed few times with how Kate snapped on Jack.
It was quite unbalanced because at the same time, I did like Jack. Yes, he was the bad boy, the one who refused to settle down, the one who breaks heart of many women. But reading more about Jack's inner thoughts, it was easy to see Jack differently. His own father dismissed him and his mother, and Jack has been clinging to his friendship with Eli and Connor as a replacement for the family he yearned the most. Heck, this guy was willing to get involved with the charity event to help abused wives! There was so much of Jack than what he was shown outside. And it made me really pissed off that NOBODY championed for him. That even Liss, who claimed that she loved Jack as a brother, saw him as bad news for Kate. This guy bare his heart and soul first, people!!
In overall, I still liked it, but not as much as I did the first two.
The ARC is provided by the publisher via Netgalley for an exchange of fair and honest review. No high rating is required for any ARC received.
4