The Right Bride by Jennifer Ryan

High-powered businessman Cameron Shaw doesn't believe in love—until he falls head over heels for beautiful, passionate, and intensely private Martina. She's perfect in so many ways, immediately bonding with his little girl. Martina could be his future bride and a delightful stepmother … if only Cameron weren't blinded by his belief that Shelly, the gold-digging woman he's promised to marry, is pregnant with his child.

No matter how much his friends protest his upcoming marriage to Shelly, Cameron knows he has a duty to his children, so he's determined to see it through.

Will he find out in time that Shelly's lying and Marti's the one who's actually carrying his child? It'll come down to the day of his wedding. After choosing Shelly over Marti at every turn, will he convince Marti she's his world and the only woman he wants?

*****

Did Not Finish

My review contains no spoilers, just my thoughts about why The Right Bride didn't work for me, and isn't meant to discourage anyone from reading this book.

Review:

After reading and only somewhat enjoying the first book in series, then reading and really enjoying the second book, I was definitely looking forward to reading The Right Bride, the third book in Jennifer Ryan’s The Hunted series. Sadly, it really didn’t work for me.

As you can see, the storyline itself screams angst and drama, so I was expecting that in spades, but what I wasn’t expecting was to have absolutely no connection to the characters. I couldn’t get on-board with the H/h or their relationship. Cameron was foolish, gullible, and weak, but I'm supposed to believe he's a CEO, someone competent enough to run the multi-bjillion dollar Merrick International? The man we're supposed to believe Cameron is, and the man he really is just don't add up. From the start, Shelly manipulates him and uses him, makes him look like a moron, and this just doesn't fit with the "high powered businessman" he's supposed to be.

Writing young kids who are cute and interesting can be tough for any author, and I know some readers who do not like kids in their reading, period. Normally I enjoy them in this type of story, but I found Cameron's five year old daughter, Emma, to be so far out of the realm of five year old believability that I wanted to scream. Her words, thoughts and actions were supposed to be cute, but just didn't fit a five year old, in my opinion. Her character felt forced, and rather than being adorable, Emma struck me as obnoxious. The story would have been more enjoyable if the author had allowed her to be like a normal kid, and hadn't tried so hard to make her adorable.

And this from the cover blurb is actually the nail in this story's coffin:

No matter how much his friends protest his upcoming marriage to Shelly, Cameron knows he has a duty to his children, so he's determined to see it through.

Under the right circumstances I can forgive a guy who's stupid, naive, gullible, clueless, obnoxious, and even a man-whore, but when he allows a woman he doesn't even care about to treat his daughter the way Shelly was treating Emma - that's it. I'm done. Fini, au revoir, hasta la vista, baby...

I’m just going to stop here because this is turning into a book bash and I don't like doing that. As I said, after reading book two, Lucky Like Us, I had such incredibly high hopes for this one, but honestly, I’m thoroughly disappointed and don't anticipate continuing the series.

PLEASE, if this sounds like the kind of story you normally enjoy, then definitely give it a try! Sometimes certain authors, for whatever reason, just don't work for me, and sadly, it seems that's the case with Ms. Ryan. But give her a try and decide for yourself. Who knows? You might really enjoy it!

This story was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Books in the series so far: