Title: Bad Attitude
Series: Bad in Baltimore: Book Three
Author: K.A. Mitchell
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (2nd Edition)
Length: 210 Pages
Category: Contemporary
At a Glance: I don’t feel like I wasted time reading this book as it is still quite polished, but I’m disappointed it didn’t live up to its full potential.
Reviewed By: Jenn
Blurb: Saving lives never used to be this complicated.
Gavin Montgomery does what’s expected of him by his wealthy and powerful family—look good in a tuxedo and don’t make waves. When a friend takes a leap off a bridge, Gavin tries to save him, only to fall in with him. At least at the bottom of the river he won’t feel like such a disappointment to his family. But he’s pulled from the water by a man with an iron grip, a sexy mouth, and a chip on his shoulder the size of the national deficit.
Jamie Donnigan likes his life the way it is—though he could have done without losing his father and giving up smoking. But at least he’s managed to avoid his own ball and chain as he’s watched all his friends pair off. When Montgomery fame turns a simple rescue into a media circus, Jamie decides if he’s being punished for his good deed, he might as well treat himself to a hot and sweaty good time. It’s not like the elegant and charming Gavin is going to lure Jamie away from his bachelor lifestyle. Nobody’s that charming. Not even a Montgomery….
Review: Having read the previous two books in the Bad in Baltimore series, I was unsure of the direction the author was going to go—i.e., who was next in the matchmaking process—but I was looking forward to reading it. Unfortunately, this book just missed the mark for me. At the end I was left unsatisfied and wondering if there had been any real character growth in either Gavin or Jamie.
It started out strong with the apathetic and feeling-mired Gavin, who is from a high profile, wealthy family, getting the shock of his life as he accidentally falls off a high bridge whilst trying to save his friend Beach, who intends to jump—not because the friend is suicidal, simply while drunk or possibly high. His friend Beach gets it in his head to swim out to an island. Jaime is the one to find them, but instead of Gavin using this shock to re-examine his life and look at other avenues he could go at, he seems to go straight back to his old ways that had left him so unhappy. At least he brings Jamie along, setting out the build-up of their romance.
Jamie himself never thought he would end up with a partner, and isn’t looking. Nor does he want to be in the spotlight he’s dragged into as the rescue diver who found and saved Gavin Montgomery. Their relationship started out with the idea of hook-ups, but I didn’t feel invested in how it developed further and, at the end, when Gavin realises his love for Jamie and allows it to change some of his behaviour, I didn’t feel like it was natural.
There was a lot of potential within the pages of Bad Attitude that I felt the author missed, things like Gavin’s original ennui with his life mixed with the forced psychological evaluation after he was rescued by Jamie that could have looked at depression and other mental illnesses and how they affect everybody, as well as some of the difficulties that can come from finding love—both for the mentally ill person and their lover. I don’t feel like I wasted time reading this book as it is still quite polished, but I’m disappointed it didn’t live up to its full potential.
You can buy Bad Attitude here:
[zilla_button url=”http://bit.ly/2IqTHni” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Dreamspinner Press [/zilla_button][zilla_button url=”https://books2read.com/u/3L0rYJ” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon & Other eTailers [/zilla_button]
The Novel Approach Reviews 
Leave a Reply