BOOK REVIEW:
An Exquisite Challenge
For some strange reason I ordered books 1 & 2 of The
Delicious De Campos trilogy, but forgot the 3rd story.
Well, that’s for another day I suppose. Right now I DO have
book 2 and I’ve read it soooo that means another review! Yay.
Now that Lilly and Riccardo De Campo got their HEA, Alexandra
and Gabriele get their own stab at ‘The End”. A quick refresher is an order at
this point, and it’s totally spoiler-free: Alex is the twin sister of Lilly.
And Gabe is Riccardo’s younger brother, or the middle child mediator of the
three De Campo men.
-End Refresher-
In An Exquisite
Challenge Alex and Gabe are forced together because of dents in their
career paths. You see, they’re both actually really admirably dedicated to
their jobs. Despite the fact that we’re reminded Alex is an Iowa farm
girl-turned-extraordinaire entrepreneur and Gabe’s fortune allowed him to be
born into a wealthy family, but of course privilege doesn’t buy talent, skill
and hard work.
I have to admit, Jennifer Hayward comes a long way with
characterization in her sophomore novel. I really loved Gabe much more than
Riccardo. The alpha male thing doesn’t always work for me…which is odd because
Harlequin Presents/M&B Modern Romance lives for the alpha. But I do believe
it takes a lot of skill to pull off an alpha character without making him come
off as a jackass.
There was more layer to the story as well. Gabe actually—surprise!—had
an on-screen passion. With Riccardo there was racing, but he never got behind
the wheel on a racetrack. Gabe loves his wine-making and the wine industry and
you can hear it, feel it, see it—and I guess it helped that I learned stuff
about wine-making. I mean, who knew you had to actually air wine? I thought
people did that in movies and shows for the “suave appearance”… Haha. Can you
tell I’m totally alcohol abstinent?
But it was the same betweent he twin sisters! Lilly was just…there.
Alex actually HAD a job. Like she did stuff. Important
money-making stuff. What I mean is that Lilly had a job, yes. She was actually
a successful physiotherapist. But we never got to see her in action. The first
story’s plot and word count of the category romance didn’t allow for it.
Because Alex’s job as a public relation specialist/person is
a key factor in the external conflict of this story, readers get to see more of
the heroine’s life outside the romance.
And speaking of the romance, let’s talk Gabe + Alex, you
know, together.
They have a history. A short, but tumultuous history kicking
the book off from page 1, but you need to read the story to find out what that
is.
They’re also fire-water, hot-cold, black-white, -insert
other opposites to get point across that there is an opposites attract trope
here-.
But like all really
different people on the outside, on the inside they’re both nursing broken
hearts from previous love slights, so the internal conflict is born! Dun dun.
But on a more serious note, I loved this novel because it
touched on an important topic. One I’m going to go ahead and assume that the
average person doesn’t expect a romance novel to dwell into: the extramarital affair/cheating.
I mentioned this already in my review for the first book in
Ms. Hayward’s trilogy because Lilly and Riccardo’s story touched on it a bit,
but it also kinda left it hanging.
An Exquisite Challenge doesn’t. At least not
nearly as much as its predecessor does, and I’m glad for it. It was hard to
read, but I had this internal dialogue and it made me more involved in the
character’s decision-making process and the consequences of their actions.
Trust me when I say it isn’t a black and white decision
here. There’s a lot to swallow in this book, and it’ll make you question where
you stand as of now on the issue of cheating.
…
And I’ve said all I’m going to say about that. Now go out
and buy the book! Read it and enjoy! Just one final note as well, this trilogy contains
three companions not sequels.
You can read An
Exquisite Challenge (book 2) without having read The Divorce Party (book 1). There isn’t a lot of know-how from book
1 that can’t be readily understood in book 2.
My verdict:
✮✮✮✮✮
(5 stars)
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