Under Her Skin

by Susan Mallery

What I Thought...

I'm a sucker for romance, but I have to admit, I had a problem with this one. I have serious issues with certain aspects of Susan Mallery's first in her Lone Star Sisters books - not the least of which is that I found Cruz, the male lead, to be cold, unsympathetic, and not at all romance-worthy, and his "redemption" - if you can call it that - came far too late in the story and was far too abbreviated and abrupt, lacking any real explanation of what would cause such a significant about-face, or have enough backstory set up to warrant such an extreme change given what did motivate it. I found him to be largely disappointing all the way through, and I'm sorry, but the emotional wasteland that was his relationship with his daughter was a huge turn off, and no single dinner can change that.

I liked Lexi all right - to a point. She's smart, independent, and strong...except when dealing with her emotionally abusive and soulless father, who I absolutely detested. And while Lexi acknowledges and accepts the mistakes she makes, some of her choices are questionable at best. When she falls for Cruz, who is so much like her father (though I think the author was trying to both draw the similarities and expose the differences...and only the similarities came through clearly), the relationship reads more like a cautionary tale for abused children, warning that the choices in life can reflect their abuse. It didn't seem in any way a romantic triumph over the past. Three stars for the parts that included just Lexi and her sisters and the thread of mystery - which is actually intriguing - surrounding them all.

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Reviewed Books by Susan Mallery