14 January 2015

Single Volume One Tour Stop!

After failing miserably at love, Roxane VanBuren swears off men but not before her determined best friend shows her all the advantages of being single. After a wild weekend full of sex, old-flames, and secrets, Roxane is desperate to forget it ever happened. But she learns it isn't that easy.

Since becoming the President of VanBuren Investments, she knows how important it is for her professional and personal life to remain separate from one another. If the two were to mix, the rumors could possibly ruin her reputation, which is bad for her and bad for business. To avoid that, Roxane allows rules to define and guide her every move. Unfortunately for her, Parker Williams is determined to break them all, one at a time.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22375043-single-volume-1?from_search=true
While I enjoyed Single, it’s not a book that lends itself well to the serial novella format in my opinion – at least that’s where I’m assuming the author is going with it. Please take cover before reading the next sentence because the sky is likely to fall, but… I think there was too much of a focus on sex in the book to allow for ample storyline development. I know. Honestly I never thought I’d ever use the phrase “too much of a focus on sex” in a review, but there it is. While I understand that Ms. Parish was making a point about Roxane’s life and relationships, the sex scenes took up too much of the book and distracted from the character development. In a standalone novella, that’s not an actual problem. But when you’re writing a series of novellas you have to hook the reader and, for me, this overemphasis on the sex translated into a lack of connection to the characters and failed to hook me.

That said, I did like Roxane’s character but not the way the men in her life interacted with her. Despite working at the family-owned business, she is the President of the company that answers to a Board so she is obviously an intelligent woman. However, her father and her grandfather treat her like she’s still a child. Prior personal relationship or not, Parker’s behavior toward her was unnecessarily antagonistic, borderline insubordinate, and would have gotten him written up by a male superior immediately and possibly fired. Yet Roxane accepted Parker’s behavior as if it were no big deal. This bothered me because in nearly every conversation regarding her job, everything points to Roxane being a major ball-buster but time and time again she does nothing but lose her cool. I’m not sure why this bothered me so much, just that it did. Single is one of those books that was a good read. It’s the kind of book whose sequel will go on my Amazon wish list so I can catch it on sale because while I am interested in reading the next book in the series, I won’t be devastated if I miss it. 
I was everything. I was nothing. I was weak, crumbling, melting into little pieces each time his tongue touched mine. We didn't rush. My world crashed down around me one touch at a time. This was my own personal doomsday, with an attack on my emotions, but I didn't prep. I wasn't ready to feel like, this but somehow I did.
He pulled me closer, so close, and his kiss deepened.
Parker.
His name was on my lips, but his lips were stealing my words, only allowing my thoughts to burn within me. I couldn't focus. I was losing everything that I was, that I stood for, and that I believed in. Relationships and Roxane didn't go together. What the hell was I doing?

Lyra Parish loves to write, glamp, and sing obnoxiously loud at the top of her lungs in the shower. Sweet love stories (along with the dirty ones) make her gush. She is a firm believer that a person can never have too many cups of coffee, cats, or happily ever afters. When she isn't busy writing, she can be found sipping various beverages from her non-alcoholic drink buffet, pimp slapping excel spreadsheets, or riding her bike. Lyra lives in Texas with her glassblowing, guitar-playing hubby and black cat named Nibbler.


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