TMP Books, $4.99, ISBN 978-0463805558
Contemporary Romance, 2020
Play some Marvin Gaye, people, because Theresa Paolo’s All Because of You is going to kick things off with some smooth, smooth loving.
The lights were dimmed in her New York City penthouse, the champagne chilling in the ice bucket, and Olivia Green was stripped down to her newest red lace lingerie set. Her boyfriend, Daniel James III, was just selected to be included in Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and she was ready to celebrate.
Wait, let me check again the back cover synopsis. Ah yes, the hero’s name is Shane McConnell, so okay, scratch that loving part.
Who’s shocked that Daniel has a side chick all this while? If you are, you must be new to contemporary romance, so enjoy this trope, as you’ll come across it over and over and over and over until you are half-convinced that these romance authors are actually AI programmed to churn out as many stories as possible every day in order to help Jeff Bezos cover his alimony payments.
As expected, she hightails out of the city back to Morgan Bay, her small town of a hometown, where the hero is waiting for her.
I’ll be fair, though. Shane isn’t the local sheriff or the ex she left behind, so at least he’s somewhat different for a small town romance trophy for the jilted heroine. He’s here to look into the possibility of being related to a large and wealthy family in Morgan Bay (his mother told him that he is, just before she kicked the bucket), but you know how it is. Rich and wealthy people usually don’t like the idea of strangers showing up at the door and possibly get their fingers on the pie that these family members have already divided among themselves.
Due to the nature of the premise, Morgan Bay isn’t the usual small town full of nosy old biddies that chant “Shag! Shag! Shag! Put your penis in her, boy, because WE WANT TO SEE IT!” at the hero and the heroine, so that’s another plus. Whatever this may be, All Because of You isn’t a completely formulaic small town romance, and for that I am grateful.
Now, I have no issues with the characters or their romance. I can’t say the romance takes my breath away, as I feel the chemistry between those two feels tad muted and they seem more invested in their own personal issues than whatever relationship that may be developing between them. However, the romance still come off as believable, and these two also don’t do any dumb things to make my blood pressure spike.
In fact, when I think of it, I actually am more invested in Shane’s search for answers about his family than in the romance. This is because the romance and the characters’ personal issues feel segregated from one another, as if the romance were something that happened when these characters try to fill their time when they’re not dwelling on their own personal drama, and Shane’s personal drama is far more interesting than the romance.
This is perhaps the reason for my dissatisfaction of this story. After all the build up, that part of the story just fizzles out in a rather anticlimactic manner. I’m supposed to be happy that Shane and Olivia finally find a happy ending because they are, after all, in love and hot and what not, but I’d have greatly preferred getting a stronger resolution to Shane’s personal drama.
Normally, I’d have no issue with this, as this thing is, after all, a romance story. However, the story started out in a way that makes the romance the least interesting aspect of the whole thing, and I don’t feel that it manages to rise to the occasion, so to speak, when it’s supposed to. As a result, I’m nowhere as enthusiastic about the happily ever after as the author would no doubt like me to be.
Still, this one is alright. It has a lot of things done right: pacing, natural-sounding conversations (sadly, a rarity these days), and likable lead characters. The fact that it isn’t another tired old clone of other small town romances out there is also a plus in its favor. While I’m not as enthused about it as I’d like to be, it’s good enough as a pleasant way to while away an afternoon.
