I have read all of Giffin’s novels, and this was definitely one of the most lackluster. It even edged on being melodramatic. Worse of all, I was bored and wanted the novel to be finished for most of it.

At first, the Texas college town setting and football focus reminded me of “Friday Night Lights”. The coach’s wife was even named Connie. But this wasn’t the TV show and there was just too much American football politics in this.

Most romances are predictable in some way, and it’s all about the journey. I like that Giffin usually has a good buildup to her couple. She definitely has a formula. It didn’t quite work for me here. She presented two prospects for her heroine: a hot more dreamy man who looks perfect vs. her other attractive, but decidedly different end-game man. The first man was too melodramatic with his issues; it felt a bit soap operaish. With the character she ends up with, I just kept thinking, “Get to the point!”

It felt a lot of the novel was about the protagonist and her daddy issues. There’s something a bit too much about the May-November romance presented here. It felt a bit contrived even.

I was always going to read this book, but a friend invited me to her book club and this was the selection. Sadly, I cannot make my first book club meeting since I have another engagement. If I was there, I would definitely say this was not the author’s best work.

Read July 26, 2014 on Kindle.