Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Review: No Sunshine When She's Gone by Kate Angell

Disclaimer: I've received No Sunshine When She's Gone as an eARC from Netgalley


No Sunshine When She's Gone by Kate Angell
published by Kensington in April 2014
Life's a Beach

Though his family owns the charming beachside town of Barefoot William, Aidan Cates is as down-to-earth as the locals. He's also practical to a fault and doesn't believe some psychic on the boardwalk can predict his future.

Jillie Mac is as free as an ocean breeze, so when the hot stranger and his date mistake her for a fortune teller, she's ready to have some fun. But one devastating secret told, one mistaken identity revealed, and numerous long summer nights later, it's Jillie and Aidan who discover that sometimes love comes with a simple twist of fate.
Genre: Contemporary romance
Series: Barefoot William, Book #3

The Story: I think the blurb for No Sunshine When She's Gone was a bit misleading. Here are some of the details that were left out...

Jillian Mac and her best friend, Carrie Waters, both work for the Community Affairs department of the baseball team, the Richmond Rogues. With the new Richmond Rogues Spring Training Facility being built in the Gulf Coast, they have been sent to Barefoot William and Saunders Shore to connect with the locals and drum up interest for the new spring-training facility. In order to do so, she will be working closely with the Cates family who own Barefoot William, and more particularly, Aidan Cates whose construction company has been hired to build the spring-training facility. However, she never expected to meet him when he and his date mistake her for a psychic and ask for a reading!

From their first meeting, Aidan is attracted to and intrigued by Jillian. He wants her and for more than a fling... However, Jillian doesn't have the best track record with relationship and therefore avoids them. How to convince her?

My Opinion: From my reading experience and reviews on blogland, Ms Angell has a writing style that either works for you or doesn't. It has to do with the fluffiness of her writing, the lack of research sometimes and the secondary characters and romance taking too much pages. I have to admit that the third factor has been a constant complaint of mine with her books and it's no different with No Sunshine When She's Gone ^_^; Despite that flaw, I like her writing style and books and this time was no exception, I enjoyed No Sunshine When She's Gone immensely :)

Funnily enough, it's not the usual elements that stood out in No Sunshine When She's Gone for me ^_^; Sure, Aidan and Jillie Mac were nice characters and their romance started out quite strong. I liked how they didn't fall into bed right away, it just increased the sexual tension between them which was great! It's unfortunate that once they got together though, the romance kind of fizzled out ^_^; Mainly because Jillie Mac had the weird notion that a relationship wouldn't work out. It was too bad because I would have enjoyed scenes of Aidan and Jillian together as a couple, settling into a routine. Oh well. What I did like was Aidan's attitude. He didn't beg Jillian to give it a try, didn't trick or manipulate her into a relationship. Instead, he left her alone to figure it out... and she did :) Had she not, I'm sure he would have gone after her eventually... but I have to say, I liked that he gave her space.

As usual, there was a secondary romance in No Sunshine When She's Gone. This one was between Carrie and Aidan's friend and second-in-command in the construction company, Mike Burke... And no, it didn't outshine Aidan and Jillian's romance. Carrie and Mike's romance was okay. Mike had an interesting back story, but his attitude made it hard to sympathize with him. On one hand though, I liked that he was who he was and didn't apologize for it... On the other hand, I wonder if he was always like that or his injury changed him. I wished Ms Angell had developed his character a bit more and the romance as well. This one was quite rapid and hard to believe in because of how fast it happened. Especially since Mike and Carrie didn't seem to have much in common.

All right, so what stood out for me if it weren't the characters and the romances? First, the setting. Ms Angell really makes Barefoot William and Saunders Shores come alive and oh, how I wish I was there. You can almost feel the sun shining, the sand between your toes, the salty air, the carnival sounds. LOL. Secondly, there was also the tie-in between this series and Ms Angell's previous one, the Richmond Rogues series. It was nice to see some old characters... and there was a nice twist involving Psycho. Also, the baseball atmosphere fit right in the series :) Last and not least, Olive the parrot just stole the spotlight in No Sunshine When She's Gone :) She was first introduced in No Tan Lines and makes a comeback in here. She was so much fun! LOL. Makes me almost want a parrot :P

There's not much that scream more summer than beach and baseball... and as a result, it made No Sunshine When She's Gone a great summer read :) Especially after the long and rough winter we've had! Seriously, this book just cheered me up and that's why I am willing to overlook some of its flaws.

My Grade: B.