Review: Tangled Up in Love

 
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Ever since Dylan Stone beat Veronica Chasen out of a prime position at the Cleveland Courier, they've been bitter rivals, engaging in a very public war of words in their competing newspaper columns. They routinely challenge each other to go bungee jumping, white water rafting, or into tattoo parlors to see who will wimp out first. But Veronica's latest taunt may be Dylan's toughest assignment yet: She dares him to learn to knit.
Dylan is not going to let something his grandmother can do scare him off. He's man enough to make a scarf—and attend Veronica's weekly knitting circle. But when the infuriatingly handsome Dylan shows up at the craft shop and charms all the ladies, Veronica starts to get all knotted up in something that feels a lot like love...

Genre: contemporary romance

Publishing date: February 2009

Mature content: yes

Review: I really, really wanted to love this book. The synopsis promised so much, the first twenty or so pages really got me hooked and then...it sort of went downhill. 

The first sign was the insertion of Charlotte's point of view (Charlotte is the aunt of one of Veronica/Ronnie's best friends) which doesn't add anything to the story other than building a bridge onto the following books in the Chicks with Sticks series (as far as I can tell, since I haven't read the other books). The idea behind it is kind of cute (an enchanted spinning wheel that supposedly brings true love to anyone who uses the yarns spun in it) but it seems to be added to the story just as an afterthought, not as a relevant part of the plot.  

And the second, and most important hint that this book was a bit of a waste of time was the fact that the second half of it is just sex, sex and more sex. Ronnie and Dylan evolve from a fierce professional competition and some of the smartest, funniest, wittiest dialogs I have ever read, onto putting the entire Kama Sutra into practice. Somewhere in between, they supposedly fall in love, though in galls me too that they never really manage to say I love you to each other, not even at the end.

Now, I'm not against having sex scenes in a romance novel, not when it fits the story. But too much of it is...just too much. In this case, it distracted me from the rest of the plot and after a while I just wanted the book to end for me to move onto another more interesting read. 

I did like the plot and all the knitting references, the sometimes hilarious dialogs and the cover of the book. Everything else is not so great. So, read if you have time, but don't get your hopes too high. 

Have a wonderful week, and happy readings,