Author: Tracey Pedersen
Genre/Age: Contemporary Romance/Adult
Series: None
Publisher: Daring Online Adventures
Format: ebook via KindleUnlimited
Rating: ✺✺
Links: Goodreads
Synopsis: New Year's Eve has never been so depressing!
Jordan Parker is so sick of men who don't live up to her standards. Which is pretty sad, since her standards are outrageously low! All she wants is a good man with a sense of humour, who'll treat her right. That's not so much to ask is it?
This New Year's Eve is as disastrous as any other for Jordan. Her date is a douche canoe, her best friend just announced she's getting married and even the bartender takes pity on her and buys her a drink.
But Jordan is an achiever. She doesn't fail at LIFE!
So she makes a plan. 365 days from now, she'll be married, come hell, or high water. Some quick notes on a serviette, a new goal setting phone app and she knows she's onto a winning idea. The perfect man is out there waiting for her somewhere, and no matter what awful dating shenanigans she has to endure, she's going to find him and make him hers. For good.
If only she hadn't overindulged last night, she might know if the hot stranger in her bed right now has any chance at being 'the one'.
Wow, this book was a mess for me... I'm not even sure where to start.
I don't usually include spoilers in my reviews, but fair warning that you might find the following to contain mild spoilers.
Jordan sees her best friend get engaged and suddenly (as well as drunkenly) she decides that she wants to get married, too. So she and her girlfriends set out to make a list of her ideal guy's traits. Most of them make sense and a few are superficial. But hey, everyone has their particular likes and dislikes.
But as Jordan soon discovers, finding her dream man is nearly impossible when each and every guy who ticks off the boxes on her list also has a fatal flaw. And while she's willing to really put herself out there, agreeing to insane dates with sketchy people, she also refuses to overlook a single trait on her list. Even if the guy is literally exactly what she wants, if he's missing one of the criteria, she balks.
My problems stemmed from the very beginning. Jordan's immediate dismissal of the one night stand mentioned in the synopsis led me to believe that he might be her intended match, after all. But then we're introduced to one disaster of a male character after another. Some of the "dates" were downright ridiculous and entirely unbelievable. I could see that the author tried to go for a variety here, but to me it just read like a soap opera. And we all know how realistic those are... *snort*
I tried to find the humor that everyone else seemed to love but all I did was shake my head. I mean, Jordan behaves quite immaturely for a 28-year-old who we're supposed to believe is ready for marriage. Umm, I'm not sold on that. You can't see out of your eye and you refuse to go to the hospital? Who does that? No one. And that's what made this story bottom out for me.
Luke was a fantastic character. Attentive and humorous, he was definitely showcased to be a perfect fit for anyone, really. The author did a great job of making us readers want to fall in love with him. Unfortunately, I think she should have spent more time helping Jordan to see his potential. Or at least, have made Jordan less shallow and immature, so I could have rooted for her happy ending.
In all, I don't think Jordan did anything to deserve Luke. There wasn't really a moment of zen, if you will, where she realized her dream man was here all along and she couldn't live without him. Nope. She denies him, adamantly for months, and we're supposed to believe that she suddenly changes her mind? Really, it seemed more like she got tired of dating and just ran out of options.
One last note, this story is a clean read and this is not mentioned in the description. I hate to be surprised by this. From the cover, one would expect this to provide at least a mildly sexual read. But it ends so abruptly that we don't even get a single hint of *sparks* between our couple. Even a steamy, passion-filled kiss would have sufficed. Sadly, it was almost like adding gray icing to an already dreary cake.
In closing...
I won't be continuing the series because I hate to leave bad reviews. While I won't completely dismiss this author, if I decide to give her books another shot, I will alter my expectations, accordingly.
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