Another solid read by Victoria Dahl. And it amused me that the main female character has my last name and is from Virginia.Chloe Turner has been deemed a Bridezilla by the press because her fiancé decided to crash his plan in order to fake his death so he could get out of marrying Chloe. Because God forbid a grown-ass man learns to use his words. So Chloe gets the brunt of the blame and goes to an island in what I assume is in the Chesapeake with her BFF, Jenn, as an escape. There she meets Max Sullivan, a dive supervisor/treasure hunter with anxiety and control issues.Max and Chloe initially get involved because Max has a thing where he feels he has to be the knight in shining armor at all times. He goes over to where Chloe and Jenn have a fire going because he's fretting about the fire becoming too big. He walks with Chloe at night because he wants to prevent her from doing any night swimming. Thankfully, Dahl doesn't allow Max's savior tendencies to stay secret and let that be a basis for their relationship and have that be the drama. That part is resolved early on. Chloe doesn't reveal the whole Bridezilla thing, however, so that becomes a nasty shock once another vacationer recognizes Chloe and alerts the paparazzi. Max no longer wants a life of complications and worry, so this presents an issue between the two.The beta relationship is between Max's brother Elliott and Jenn and it's sweet enough, but not a lot of time is spent on them. The true reasons behind Thomas (Chloe's fiancé) faking his death are predictable. And Max and Chloe end up saying "I love you" when they've only spent a few days with each other and have known each other for a couple of months. I know whirlwind romances are the thing in the genre, but seriously. Actually spend a few months in each other's presence before going that far.This isn't as strong as Dahl's Colorado series, but I still liked it. Book #58 of 2012I... really didn't like this book. The last 1/4 was OK, which is pretty much the only reason it got two starts instead of 1. Chloe, I actually liked. Max... I hated. Very very much. I don't know if his need to control E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. is an actual real problem that people have or not, and I get that Dahl was trying to make him "nuanced" or whatever, but I would have punched him after five minutes. I HATE it when people treat me like a child, and Max spends the entire book treating Chloe like she is one. Don't dive, it's dangerous. You don't have a smoke detector in your bedroom. No, don't go into the water, even a teeny tiny bit at night. UGH! Plus, I just never really got into the story and pretty much just had to force myself to finish the damn thing so I could move onto something else. Not even the "romance" scenes did anything for me except make me roll my eyes, that is how much I didn't care about the characters. Normally I like Victoria Dahl's books, but this one is a complete and total dud for me.
Do You like book Crazy For Love (2010)?
Her books always make me smile big when reading. No exception. Cute, fun read.
—Jenzey123
