Sophie Sparks, $0.99, ISBN 978-1005863944
Contemporary Romance, 2022
It always starts at someone else’s wedding, doesn’t it? Jasmine is at her best friend Gemma’s wedding when she is notified by her sister that there is a hunk afoot. Even better, he looks like he wants to take a big bite out of her plus-sized cake and enjoy every second of it.
“Dillon Moore, huh?” I smile, withdrawing my hand. “Sounds like a command.”
“Nah. Once you’ve had Dillon… you won’t need any more.”
Good thing she finds that funny.
He’s the friend of the bridegroom, just like she is the friend of the bride, because everyone’s going to be one big happy family in one happy series, see. However, nothing really comes out of the meeting at the wedding, and the story cuts to five months later. The rest is pretty cozy. Sure, he has lots of issues stemming from being the son of an abusive SOB, while she does black out when they meet again, but the tone of this story is pretty upbeat nonetheless and there is nothing here that really suggests that there will be any genuinely difficult bump on their road to a happily ever after.
There are rough edges in the narrative. For example, this is from a chapter narrated from Jasmine’s point of view.
As his contorted face strains with bliss, he releases his hot, fertile seed deep inside me.
“Fuckkkk,” he groans, blasting a fiery cannon of semen into his soul mate.
The gruesome imagery of a cannon blasting into a poor woman’s hoo-hoo aside, it does seem rather arrogant of Jasmine to declare herself Dillon’s soul mate, doesn’t it?
Reading this, I also feel that sometimes the author structures her story in a way because she thinks it’s expected of a romance story to be that way, not because it’s integral to her plot. For example, why begin this story at a wedding when the wedding doesn’t really serve any pivotal function in the overall story arc? Why make Dillon a fireman and not let him even spray a hose at a burning waste paper basket?
I know why the author did the second thing, of course. It’s because she wants to write a series, and she probably believes that a series about firemen and their big hoses cannon-firing everyone will catch on with people out there.
Still, she could have done something more with that angle to make Dillon’s fire hose feels like less a gimmick. Maybe, for example, instead of blacking out and then needing a big strong man to take care of her as she recovers, Jasmine could have volunteered or done something with the fire station that Dillon works at.
Nonetheless, Dillon is actually a pretty decent read. Sure, the angst feels tacked on, as do most of the other things in this story, but the two main characters are likable, and they have an easy-going chemistry that feels natural and believable. The core of this story, the relationship between Dillon and Jasmine, is a fun, breezy read because of this. The author also has a sense of humor that works pretty well and her way as well as timing with the one-liners are fine. The pacing is alright too. Nothing dramatic really happens here, but the story moves at a pace that keep things going without making the story feel draggy or going nowhere.
All things considered, this one is a charming read despite all its rough edges. I like it!
