All the Way (Romancing Manhattan)

All the Way
by Kristen Proby
Release Date:  August 21, 2018
Publisher:  William Morrow
Book #1 in the Romancing Manhattan series
Number of Pages:  288
Kindle edition
Source:  MCL
Contemporary Romance M/F
Rating:  XXX
Read 5/3/19 to 5/4/19

 

Finn Cavanaugh is known for being a force to be reckoned with in the courtroom. He owns a successful law firm with his brother and brother-in-law in Manhattan. On the rare occasion that he has down time, he spends it at his home in Martha’s Vineyard. But when Finn’s troubled niece goes to stay with him for the summer in Martha’s Vineyard, he’s reluctant to take time off from work. That is, until he meets his beautiful new neighbor, London.

London Watson is a Tony Award winning actress on Broadway. When tragedy strikes her family, leaving her alone and injured, she flees Manhattan for Martha’s Vineyard. Hoping she can figure out how to pick up the pieces of her life, London is convinced that she’ll never be able to return to the stage. But when she meets the charming young girl next door and her sexy uncle, they soon lure London out of her shell as she finally begins to heal from the wounds of her past.

But when London feels confident enough to return to the spotlight, she’s dealt another devastating blow. Will the newfound love between London and Finn be enough to conquer all? Or will it be over before it has a chance to grow?

I’ve been in a one-sided love affair with this author since I discovered her and read Loving Cara.  Throughout that series (Love Under the Big Sky) I had a hard time putting those stories down once I picked them up.  It was only a matter of time before I came across a story of hers that would fall flat for me.  It’s inevitable, no matter how much I love an author, that some of their stories won’t speak to me the same way their other stories do.  That’s not to say this isn’t a good book.  It is actually a great story, but when I hold it up to those other stories it pales.

While I found Finn to be a strong male lead and very swoon worthy, I didn’t feel we were given enough of his back story…what makes the man tick.  In fact, I felt I knew more about his brother and brother-in-law than I knew about Finn by the end of this story.  This didn’t stop me from loving him, but it did stop me from fully connecting with him.

There’s a lot more history on London, but not any sort of deep dive that goes beyond the few months before the story starts.  So again, I didn’t feel the connection with London that I would have liked. Which also made me not as forgiving when she’d get upset with Finn.  I ended up understanding her reasons for the times she got frustrated with him, but the first time it really happened I thought she was being a bit of a diva since I didn’t understand her enough.

There was great chemistry with Finn’s niece Gabby and London, but they didn’t get near enough time together for my taste.  I’m hoping they’ll have more scenes with each other when Gabby’s dad gets his story told.

There are a few big scenes that end up, in the long run, being more anticlimactic than the big adrenaline rush they seem at first.  Some things wrapped up too quickly, others dragged on too long.  I guess what I’m saying is the flow seemed off. 

Again, hard to explain, but this is still a good book.  I still wanted to keep going back to it throughout the day and looked forward to the times I was able to sit and read.  It just wasn’t up to the standards I set in my mind when it comes to this author.  I hope it was just a fluke because I plan to continue reading this author and I’m looking forward to Quinn’s story.

3 stars