Not Quite Over You

Susan Mallery

HQN Books

October 23, 2018

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Blurb: Silver Tesdal has a head for business and a mouth made for kissing, and banker Drew Lovato has his eye on both. But ever since he was dumb enough to let her go, she’s kept him at a distance. When the bank turns her down for a loan, Drew sees a double opportunity—he can finance her brilliant, unique idea to rock Happily Inc’s wedding industry and win back her trust.
Despite her reputation, Silver’s not as tough as she seems. Losing Drew nearly destroyed her. Still, his kisses are as tempting as his offer to invest in her business. If she can’t quite get over him, maybe she should get under him and knock him out of her system once and for all.

But her best laid plans begin to unravel as Silver finds herself falling even harder than when they were high school sweethearts. Which means that she’ll have to come clean about the secret she’s been hiding from him for years—and risk losing him forever.

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SASCHA DARLINGTON’S REVIEW

I’ve enjoyed all of the installments I’ve read of Susan Mallery’s Happily Inc., series with the exception of the novella that somehow passed me by. Throughout, I’ve enjoyed Silver’s character because she has been strong, spunky, and confident, which is why I was very much looking forward to reading her story. Unfortunately, Not Quite Over You ends up having an indecisive Silver (who took over her body? We want the real Silver!) and an unfortunate sub-plot.

From the previous novels, I believed that if Silver was given an obstacle, she’d climb it after logical consideration. She built herself up from nothing and pretty much defied odds. The obstacle in Not Quite Over You is something that Silver, the one from the other novels, would have taken in stride, but in this novel she’s indecisive and procrastinates on facing the situation until it’s almost taken out of her hands, which I found very frustrating. Where did the spunky Silver go?

Drew is a nice guy. We are led to believe that as a teenager, he was more self-involved, which I guess is the definition of teenager. However, now, he is all about the community and being involved and doing the right thing.

Ultimately, this makes a very nice romance, with emphasis on “nice.” Silver is nice and Drew is nice, but Silver’s feistiness that might have made this a different, more fun, novel isn’t in place. There’s spark missing from this second chance at love romance.

Which leads me to the subplot that seems to just fall from the sky and land haphazardly in a strange place in Not Quite Over You. The subplot involves Jasper, a writer and former soldier, and Wynn, a printer and single mother, who have been involved throughout the series. In the last book it seemed to become public knowledge, despite Wynn’s desire that no one know, which is difficult to accomplish in a small town. The unintended consequence, I believe, of its supposed resolution is that I came away disliking Wynn, a character I had liked previously. So, if the next novel is going to be involving her, Mallery is going to have to go the extra mile to explain away Wynn’s hard-ass, take no prisoners, selfish decisions–and by selfish, I mean this. You can do all you can to protect yourself, but as a single mother you also have to consider your child and what is good for him, what he needs in his life, and realize that sometimes you can’t be his sun, moon, and stars. That other people might be needed to help him grow. While we don’t know Wynn’s background, the implication is that whatever hurt her is major…but what could justify, seriously, her behavior? Meh, maybe I’m overreacting because I also really liked Jasper and didn’t like the way he was treated. We’ll see what happens.

All in all, this is a good story with a lot of fun involving weddings and bachelorette parties. And, if you’re a person who loves seeing wicked women behave extremely badly, you’re in for a treat because Drew is related to two of them, and they show just how unpleasant they can be.

Who will like this? Susan Mallery fans who have been reading the series throughout; even though you may be disappointed with Silver’s characterization, you probably don’t want to miss this. I don’t believe that this can be read as a standalone and make a completely satisfying story because of the cast of thousands and their interrelated stories. However, if you do read it as a standalone you won’t be disappointed by Silver, because you’ll just be meeting her.

I received an ARC from Harlequin and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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rating:

3 butterflies and a ladybug out of 5 butterflies

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