“Don’t rush into love. You’ll find the person meant for you when you least expect it.” – Franzie Gubatina
Author: Kenzie Cade
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Pages/Word Count: 32 Pages
Rating: 2.5 Stars
Blurb:Sam Crowe lives a quiet life. He’s a freelance journalist and sometimes fiction writer.
His world is turned upside down when love lands on his doorstep—literally, while cursing up a G-rated storm. Son of a fish, indeed. Casey Sanders doesn’t know whether it’s good luck or bad when he slips and falls on the icy steps of his apartment building, but the hero who comes to his rescue is worth the discomfort.
Their attraction is instant, but Sam is certain Casey’s flirtation and kind words are a result of the pain medication. But Casey is persistent and won’t give up until he has what he wants. And what he wants is Sam.
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Review: What to do when you find a new neighbor sprawled on the icy sidewalk outside your building? Good-natured Sam Crowe immediately steps in to help Casey Sanders and quickly realizes that this is no simple injury but one that is going to require a trip to the emergency room before the night is out. Undaunted by caring for this perfect stranger, Sam quickly sets him to rights and even brings him back home to his own spare room, saving Casey from having to struggle up several flights of stairs on his crutches. When gratitude turns to something more, Sam is left warring with his conscience at taking advantage of a seemingly drugged Casey, but Casey has other ideas.
This is a tough review for me because this sweet romance began so promisingly. Unfortunately, I felt the story suffered greatly from a rushed ending and a less than believable “insta love” trope. The first half of this story was incredibly light and fun. The idea that this big, football coach, Casey Sanders, actually used phrases like “son of a fish” because his mother had a no-cursing policy was not only sweet but also endearingly silly. Sam was a genuine “nice guy” who really bent over backwards to help out this perfect stranger and make sure he did not suffer long before seeking medical care for him. The elements for a romance were in the air and had it gone a bit slower, I believe this story would have profited greatly by that show of restraint. Instead, we had Casey calling Sam “baby” before they knew one another even 12 hours, and in bed together a blink of an eye later with seemingly little distraction from Casey’s cast and broken foot. It was all a bit too contrived for me, and I felt there was several plot points that were left dangling as a result.
For instance, a former lover had cheated Casey, and this person was briefly mentioned and then summarily dismissed out of mind. Surely something so painful as to prompt Casey to move hours away from where they formerly lived together should have given him pause. With that betrayal so fresh in his mind, one would thing that Casey would be hesitant to jump on another man he barely knew, much less declare that he saw Sam as a “man of integrity…caring and compassionate…beautiful in presence and mind.” All this after a few hours and some help off the ice?
I felt that the time used throwing these two characters into a romance might have been better served exploring who they were, perhaps learning a bit more about their past and present. With just a bit more elapsed time, this could have been a very different feel to this tale, one more realistic and involved. Al in all, this story had such promise and after reading the first half of this story, I feel I can safely say that Kenzie Cade is more than capable of writing a beautiful romance if just a bit more time is taken establishing who her characters are and what makes them tick.
You can buy Son of a Fish here:
