The opening chapter of this book sucked me in immediately. After a night of heavy drinking, Cal wakes up to find himself naked and in the company of an unfamiliar woman who is also naked. The woman makes her exit almost as soon as Cal realizes she’s there, and he is left wracking his brain, trying to figure out how the hell he let such a “thing” happen. Whether Cal (who has been married to his high school sweetheart Shelly for six years) actually had sex with this mystery woman is unclear at this point, so I was itching to learn all of the details surrounding his infidelity. I was also curious to see how Shelly would react.
I have to be honest, I was not satisfied when Shelly simply stormed off without asking Cal any questions. I certainly would have had questions, as would most women I know. Then to make matters worse, he doesn’t even go after her right away!? It drove me nuts, but not so much that I didn’t want to keep reading.
I loved Cal. (Yeah, I know, he cheated. But I still couldn’t help but have a soft spot for him.) He’s kind, caring, romantic and an all-around good guy. While this made me root for him, it also kept me wondering how a guy like him could have cheated on his wife. (This was bothersome to me throughout the story.) As for Shelly, I just couldn’t relate to the way she hastily decided she wanted a divorce. Who would just walk away after six years of marriage without analyzing the situation? She also does other things, while Cal is trying win her back, that just irritated me and made me feel for the guy even more. So why the 3 1/2 star rating? Because Lopez does a good job of developing these characters and keeping their thoughts and actions consistent. Even though I didn’t agree with the way Shelly handled the situation, I began to understand her.
My favorite thing about this book was the supporting characters. Each of Cal and Shelly’s friends reminded me of someone I know. The relationships between Cal and his friends (Scott and T. J.) and Shelly and her friends (Gaby and Sasha) were realistic, and the dialogue was quite funny at times. Oh, and the banter between T. J. and Sasha? Hilarious. I will be reading 21 Days (#2 in the series) to find out what happens with them.
If you enjoy romance novels laced with a few hot-n-heavy scenes and a bit of humor, then you should check out this book.
K. J. Farnham 