Kimani, $6.50, ISBN 978-0-373-86419-5
Contemporary Romance, 2015
Simona Andrews, an overworked ER nurse, has just “inherited” a niece under her care, and she is also trying to fend off the octopus arms of a popular doctor at work. But when Donovan Wright, a record label VP, bumps into her – literally – at the hospital, he feels a connection between them and decides to pursue her. Ah, but can she overcome her trust issues and deal with all the many issues in her life?
That’s basically the plot in It’s Only You – rich bloke mops away the mess in the heroine’s life. The heroine puts up a lot of fight, of course, as we all need some conflict or this story would only be about 20 pages long. Simona thinks that she cannot deal with any high profile relationship as she may lose her niece as a result. Naturally, she knows that Donovan isn’t serious, or that he’d go away, or whatever. For some reason, she seems to think that being seen dating Donovan automatically makes her a gold-digger in everyone’s eyes. In the end, Simona’s only answer to every problem is her life is to pack up and run. No, she can’t marry that wealthy man, because that won’t solve any of the problems she has – better run away!
The biggest issue here is that the author writes this story as if she’s doing a day-by-day episodic doodling on what her characters are saying and doing. Very little is touched on what they are thinking. As a result, much of the heroine’s antics here comes off as a very stupid kind of self-inflicted martyrdom, and half the time she just seems demented and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I close the book thinking that Simona may be better off sedated and shipped to some quiet place for nutcases instead of having to keep dealing with pressures in the ER, raising a kid, and coping with all the self-loathing issues that keep her from believing that she is worthy of being treated nicely by a man. If we’re all lucky, she’d last another three years before our jealousy-prone darling completely loses it (hubby deals with hot women on a regular basis at work, after all) and tries to kill her hubby with a baked chicken leg.
It’s Only You is a good example of how too much telling and not enough showing really can kill a story. If I am allowed into Simona’s head more, maybe I can see better where she is coming from when she does the things she does here. As it is, the heroine is just another case of walking crazy, and the last thing she needs is to become a wife and a mother, when she already can’t deal with all the current issues in her life.
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