| Title: | Paradise Hops | |
|---|---|---|
| Author: | Liz Crowe | |
| Publisher | Tri Destiny Publishing | |
| Publication Date: | October 2012 | |
| Publisher's Description | A brutal attack left Lori Brockton convinced she was damaged goods. By the time she emerges from hiding two years later, ready to run her family's famous brewery, she's determined to be independent--never rely on anyone ever again. Nearly a year of working in every corner of Brockton Brewing Company, from warehouse to pub, front office to kitchen, teaches her all she needs to know about the business. Then, she comes face-to-face with masculine perfection in a suit and her world is rocked in more ways than one. Garret Hunter is the new Brockton business manager who takes one look at the beautiful, sad young woman and his entire existence coalesces around winning her heart. But standing between Garrett and what he believes is his true love, is a six-feet six-inch blond-haired bad boy brewer. Eli Buchannan is a craft beer rock star, recently hired by Brockton to drag the company into the 21st century. He brings innovation and attitude plus a prima donna ladies' man reputation. But he's sworn off anything resembling commitment, personal or professional, after getting burned at his last job on both fronts. Garret Hunter is "The Perfect Man" -- handsome, successful, stable, eager to settle down. Eli Buchannan... is not. Compelling, smoking hot, creative and elusive, he represents everything Lori Brockton should avoid. But just as she makes a difficult choice, a drastic life-changing shift occurs, and nothing is ever the same again. |
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| My rating: | **.5 | |
Okay, what did I just read? I had a fairly good handle on this book for the first 2/3 of it, and then it went somewhere completely unexpected. The thing is, the detour, reroute, side trip, or whatever it was, wasn’t terrible, it just didn’t make much sense to me, given what we had been given to work with in the earlier parts of the book. Without giving away too many details, I will say that the final third of this book felt to me like the author didn’t want to make Lori unlikable, and took a fairly drastic step to prevent her from becoming the object of hatred by people on Team Eli OR Team Garrett.
Maybe I’m completely misreading that decision, but I felt that Ms. Crowe only briefly touched on a lot of things that could have made the characters come alive a little better. I shared Eli’s concerns over Garrett’s saintliness. Likewise, I felt that Eli was supposed to be an grouchy alpha male, but often ended up being an unnecessarily rude bully. I get that Lori, Garrett, and Eli had some personal issues to work out, but I really didn’t like the tone of some of their interactions.
I had serious reservations about how this book ended, but I don’t regret reading it.
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