Hiding Out at the Circle C by Jill Shalvis Release Date: January 1, 1998 Publisher: Silhouette Books Part of a Silhouette series but really a standalone, no crossover Number of pages: 256 Mass Market Paperback Source: Warren Public Library Contemporary Romance M/F Rating: R Read 2/11/17 - 2/13/17
Something about this story just wasn’t clicking with me. It’s not very long but I just couldn’t get into it and it took me a long time to finish. I love Jill Shalvis and have found, as I’m making my way through her library, that her older books are hit or miss.
There were a lot of problems with the heroine, Haley. Goodness! She’s lucky Cameron was so smitten because I would have walked away by the middle of the first week. Hot and cold is not even the right way to describe her. I kept trying to give her the benefit of the doubt due to her inexperience with love, both familial and friendly. Plus she wasn’t ever really taught how to socialize with her peers. But she has absolutely no common sense. Her thought process was so convoluted and just annoyed me to no end.
For the most part I liked Cam. The only thing I didn’t like about him is the way he pushed Haley when he knew she was skittish. Then also the way he kept forgiving her. I have to say that I love the rest of Cam’s family though. I don’t know if they are books about them, but if there are I would love to read them.
Sometimes, with books from before the turn of the century, it’s hard to overcome the lack of technology. This book happened to be one of those problems. There was a cell phone but it wasn’t prominent since when this was written they weren’t common. There was a pager that didn’t make sense to me since I never knew a pager that worked the way that one did. There wasn’t caller ID. There was just too much tech being used for the level of what tech was back then. It dated the story more than if there would have been no tech.
I absolutely hated the final showdown scene. Again, it made no sense to me. How certain people got places before other people. Where the enemy got some of the equipment he used. I was just hoping it would be over soon.
Again, I generally love Jill Shalvis. It pains me to rate this one so low but I have to be honest here. Seriously, if you’re going through her old library like I am this is one that can surely be skipped. If you haven’t read this author yet, might I suggest you start with Animal Magnetism instead. Trust me, you’ll fall in love with the work of Jill Shalvis if you do.
