Review: Collision Course

Collision Course by Marie Harte
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 31%.

I had my doubts when I requested this book but I thought I would give it a try.

Josephine "Joey" Reeves is a florist and a single mom, having got pregnant when still at school. She was abandoned by the baby's father and had to give up her dreams of being a doctor to raise her son who is now nine years old. Her parents have always disapproved of her and her 'lifestyle choices' and nothing she has done in the past nine years has proven otherwise. Although she is attracted to the big, tattooed mechanic who works nearby she knows she needs to stay away from the bad boys.

Lou Cortez is a big brash mechanic and also does custom car paint designs on the side. He has had a thing for Joey for months but she hasn't given him the time of day. Little does he know she has a nine year old son. When he looks at Joey he sees a petite, shy woman who blushes every time she looks at him, she's different to the more brash women he normally dates. His mother has had five children by three different men and as a consequence he has jaded views about love and commitment.

By means of manipulative, passive-aggressive, semi-stalking Lou gets Joey to go for coffee with him and then out for dinner.

I'm now going to sound like a complete prude, but having spent nearly seven chapters reading about how Lou was going to go slow and be gentle with Joey so as not to scare her to read their first sex scene was a bit of a shock. Lou appears to be a caricature: the gruff, tattooed alpha male who protects his mother, grandmother and numerous sisters yet insists on referring to men being pussy-whipped and being forced to do chick things. He talks dirty to Joey and bosses her around, because of course she likes it rough in bed. There seemed to be a cast of thousands of mechanics, which Marie Harte seemed to be setting up for their own books.

31% through the book and I don't think we've seen Joey with her son for more than a few seconds - this isn't really a book about a single mom.

I just had an overwhelming feeling of meh at yet another book with interchangeable characters, having sex at every opportunity at the expense of a plot, moist folds, his constantly tightening trousers, constant swearing and derogatory references to women (but it's okay because he's the only man in a family full of women!).

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to review the book.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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