Title: No Time to Explain
Author: Kate Angell
Series: Barefoot William #6
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: Novel
Available: 26th Sept
Who says romance has gone to the dogs?
Richmond Rogues’ left-fielder Joe “Zoo” Zooker has his own ritual for the start of spring training—a weekend of pure pleasure, including as many pretty faces and curvaceous bodies as he can charm into his bed. After that, he’s all about baseball, especially with hungry minor leaguers eager for their own shot at the majors, just waiting for him to strike out. But when a beautiful woman with a smart mouth brushes off his flirting, he’s determined to go to bat as often as it takes to win a smile aimed only at him.
Stevie may be new to the beach town of Barefoot William, but she’s seen plenty of charmers like hot and hunky Zoo before. Managing her aunt’s doggie daycare business, she’s up to her ears in rowdy puppies—and she doesn’t need a lifelong hound like Zoo breaking her heart. Still, there’s no denying the attraction between them, and as spring training heats up, lust suddenly begins to look a lot like love . . .
Source: ARC from Kensington Books via NetGalley
Hm. It wasn’t that I didn’t like this book, but I never quite loved it either. Which is a shame because I love Barefoot William and I like the Rogues and I even liked Joe – which I wasn’t expecting after his space invader antics at the beginning. The problem was there’s not a lot of real conflict, and what there is first gets overblown and then gets quickly brushed away. As I said, I didn’t hate it, but I expected a little more.
Joe/Zoo is a typical playboy jock at the beginning, intrigued by the woman who turns him down. He’s pretty pushy, extremely competitive and very determined. But I was never quite sure what turned Stevie from a challenge into special for him. I never really got what he saw in her – nor she in him. Proximity definitely helped, but anything more remained a bit of a mystery to me.
Likewise, Stevie. She’s so very, very, very determined to keep Joe at arm’s length at first that her change of mind came really abruptly. One minute she can’t keep far enough away from him, then suddenly, nah, it’s all fine. But why? What changed? And what are her plans for the future anyway? It’s all very hazy.
Then there’s the secret, which shouldn’t have been much of a secret if they ever tried to actually get to know each other. I also expected more to come from the Party Posse. Plus the ending was all resolved far too easily and neatly. It just didn’t quite work for me.
Which is a shame because I loved the board game scene, Super Zooker and everything to do with the Rogues and the town. This whole setting is always fun to read about, I just wish this couple had done more for me. Sadly, this time, I guess it was just an okay read.
No Time to Explain is out September 26th.
Visit Kate Angell for more details.
