My Valentine Adventure
by Amber Daulton
Synopsis:
Parker Townsend raised his children alone after he lost his beloved wife to cancer. When his two little hellions placed a ‘Mom Wanted’ ad in the local paper, Parker found himself roped into an unwanted blind date.
Claire Lauer answered the want ad with few expectations and met Parker on Valentine’s Day, a day she hated with a passion. As an animal rights activist and a divorcée, she felt more comfortable with a placard in her hand than in the company of a handsome man with emotional baggage.
After a protest takes a turn for the worse, she seeks shelter in her date’s arms and loses time in his bed. Will Parker and Claire find the courage to lay their fragile hearts on the chopping block by morning, or will they forever live in a world of gray?
Review:
My Valentine Adventure is a short, fun read. The premise was cute; I liked that Parker’s kids put in the ad for him and his older brother’s clandestine involvement. The characters are nicely developed for a novella, though the action is definitely truncated–most of the novella is their Valentine’s Day date and the morning after, then we briefly jump forward in time to when they’ve been in a relationship for a while, and then the story’s over. I’d have loved to have seen more in between–how their respective kids got along, for one thing, and some more of their early relationship.
It was and enjoyable story, though it definitely could be fleshed out into a longer story. Some things were briefly brought up a few times but then ended up being a nonissue (the fact that the company Parker worked for supplied the power for the circus, for example–he was worried about Claire finding this fact out initially, but then it wasn’t mentioned later), which seemed odd. There were a few odd phrasings here and there, but overall the writing flowed rather smoothly.
This was a new-to-me author; I’d give her books another look in the future. This one was a pleasant way to spend a cozy weekend morning reading in bed.
Rating: 3 1/2 stars / B-
I received complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
