Too Close to Touch

gut

After having read "Starting from Scratch" by Georgia Beers, which I loved, I decided on "Too Close to Touch". The book sounded interesting and I loved the way Georgia Beers had brought her characters to life in her other book, I was expecting an entertaining read. And it certainly was entertaining and an interesting story. However, I was really disappointed in the characters. I just could not get interested in them'at all. If you want to read the book, stop reading now since I want to give a few examples why I couldn't get into the book.

On the one hand there is Gretchen, tough sales manager in a new job and awarded for her successes of the past, and on the other hand there is Kylie, long-time employee of Gretchen's new company and her personal assistant. Kylie is supposed to be warm and friendly and kind and as one of the supporting characters put it, too good for any of them. Yet Kylie's best friend of twenty years who is basically at her beck and call day and night, who does repairs in the house, helps her bury her dog and takes care of her when she is feeling down, is used by Kylie as a substitute for Gretchen one night. They have a fight about that night that completely got out of hand (in another review I read that Mick, the friend, tried to rape her but I don't agree since it was Kylie who basically attacked her and wouldn't let go until Mick wanted to go through with it and confessed her love, then Kylie wanted to stop which Mick did) and soft-hearted Kylie forgets all about her heart-broken friend for weeks and doesn't even call her! She forgot since she was too busy talking about her underwear with Gretchen! Personally, I found Kylie quite self-centered. Gretchen, tough as nails sales manager who doesn't care what others think about her and doesn't mind telling so, feels not good enough for Kylie. She'd rather sleep with one of Kylie's friends and says she's not made for commitment. Yet she was married for several years to her now best friend. I guess she developed those commitment issues right before Kylie? And her reasoning with the job didn't work for me either. In one scene she states that this would not be her first office affair. And after all, she didn't have any trouble to get a new job within the span of a week when she set her mind to it.

I gave the books three stars since I like Georgia Beer's writing style. The story was plotted well and the supporting characters were interesting enough. I will certainly try other books by her and I'm looking forward to them. This story however was not what I had expected.

Taken by Surprise

weniger gut

I chose this book since it is a finalist for an award and I liked the setting. The story sounded promising so I expected to read a good romance set in Aspen. However, I had major problems with the characters. I just did not like them'at all. Margo is introduced as a woman that smells and feels comfortable in garbage (old food on the floor) and Leigh, the lawyer, is just plain rude and seemed completely fake. She is supposed to be this tough business woman but before you know it, she behaves like an insecure girl in her teens, i.e. is her ex seeing someone new and does she have a new girlfriend and she forgets about several business meetings and isn't sure wether she wants to sell the cabbin but in the end she's not so sure anymore but forgets to tell the realtor. And this is supposed to be a tough corporate lawyer in her late fourties? For me, there just wasn't any sexual tension either and the little girl did only show up as a plot device and conveniently stayed at Wendy's house when her mum was giving a party or had other plans.

I don't want to make it sound like I hated the story, I didn't. It was an okay read in a nice setting. The reason why I didn't give it three stars is, that when the plot finally began to develop - close to the end - it was skipped over as well and the reader was told how it ended on the last three pages without knowing why it ended the way it did.