Um. Almost? The first book in the Reed Brothers new adult romance series got me to buy the second, but I did not continue to the third. For those who like the type, the men in this family own a tattoo parlor and aren’t afraid of working out. They decorate people by day and work as bar bouncers by night.
This review will show a blatant disregard for spoiler etiquette.
Tall, Tatted, and Tempting
Kit (real name: Emily) is a subway busker in New York. Living in a homeless shelter, she meets Logan (again with the Logan) and he takes an instant shine to her. Missing her chance for a bed that night, she ends up crashing at his house with his 4 brothers first for just the one night and then staying for several more. As a thank you, she ingratiates herself by snow-whiting her way through their apartment. Logan and Kit fall for each other, she has a secret, and love wins, but at a distance thus requiring a follow-up novella.
One of five orphaned brothers living and running a business together, Logan has been deaf since the age of 13, but can speak, although he has refused to for years. Meeting Kit, he decides to start speaking when he realises that she is illiterate and can’t read the notes he would otherwise write. Kit is the runaway daughter of billionaires who think she is stupid because of a learning disability. Her father is insisting she marry a loathsome douchecanoe to help the family business hence Kit’s life on the lam.
Living under an assumed name lest her parents find her and drag her to the altar, Kit is unable to spend her family’s money, which, if I may? Fu*k off. First of all, an arranged marriage for business interests in 2014? No. Secondly, a wealthy young woman who is not a victim of abuse choosing to live on the streets is offensive to those fleeing abuse and impoverished people everywhere, especially given the epic turnaround her parents make in the story. Third, all that money and NO ONE could either help Kit with her learning disability or has given her any kind of support or counseling to deal with it? I don’t buy that for a second. Isn’t that what money is for? To throw at problems? Despite Kit’s “challenges”, readers need not to worry as she’s a musical prodigy who plays guitar and sings. Her dreams are to win her father over and to attend Julliard – which is where she lands in book two and gives a performance to impress her father (OF COURSE) and leads me to one last question: I get that there are books on tape for her course work, but would someone with severe dyslexia be able to read music?
Kit and Logan’s family issues get in the way of their togetherness for a while. Kit sacrifices herself for Logan, a favour he returns in the next book, and they are on opposite coasts, but a couple, when the story closes with a reunion in sight.
Facile, obvious, and trite.
The novella was shoehorned in for reasons I don’t understand, other than the cliffhanger at the end of book one trying to generate revenue. The reader does get to meet the Kit’s parents, the aforementioned loathsome douchecanoe fiance who lives up to the hype, and several implausible things happen.
Follow up Reed Brothers stories are teased for The Brother with a Child, The Brother Who Wound Up in Jail, The Other Brother About Whom I Don’t Remember Much, and The Brother with Cancer, but I wasn’t really interested beyond Logan and Kit, and even that interest waned by the end of book two, so imagine how I feel about the rest of the series.
Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.
I just snorted soup out me nose in a fIt of surprised laughter. Excellent reviews today. Let’s start an online campaign to ban the billionaire plot device from novels.
Yes, please!
I think ‘douchecannoe’ is my new favorite word.
I, too, added it to my lexicon the first time I heard it.