Here's the blurb:
Two friends. One disastrous date. Is it too late for a do-over?
Emily Phillips is an aspiring artist, but she’s barely had time to put brush to canvas since inheriting the pottery painting shop in scenic Gold Creek.
Emily’s long hours and hard work are finally paying off. She’s turned the shop from a sleepy pottery studio into a thriving party destination. When she’s not hosting birthday parties for the kiddie crowd, her shop is filled with the squeals, laughter and love stories that accompany bridal showers. As much as she enjoys making each soon-to-be bride’s party special, the gatherings are a constant reminder that Emily’s own happily ever after is nowhere in sight.
When an offer to buy her shop arrives unexpectedly, Emily decides it’s time to give up on dreams of love, and take a chance on the dream she’d all but forgotten.
Ben Nichols, an outdoor adventure guide, hasn’t taken his eyes off Emily since the day they met. Unfortunately, a disastrous date two years ago plunged him deep into the friend zone. When he learns about Emily’s plan to sell her shop and study art in Paris, Ben realizes he’s not ready to say goodbye—and that his feelings go much deeper than friendship.
With time running out before Emily packs her bags, can Ben win a second-chance date and convince Emily that everything she’s dreamed about is in Gold Creek.
My Take:
First, I might be in a reading vortex because nothing lately has been a "knocked it out of the ballpark" read for me. So, take this with a grain of salt.
There were things I liked about this story, but I found myself skimming to get to the end. I felt the story could have been improved with a lower word count and less, um stupidity on both character's part. From the very beginning, I knew the problem between these two was Ben's inability to open his mouth and say what he thought and felt. Emily wasn't any better though. The man waited two years after their first disastrous date to try again, while Emily ignored the fact she thought there was a connection between them but dated another man instead.
The entire book was filled with them not talking about the important things. Ben tried so hard to be supportive and not keep Emily from her dreams that he never talked about his hopes, dreams, plans, or the surprise bombshell that affected both of them. Ben felt like he had to have all the answers before talking to Emily about major life changes.
Now, this sadly is true to real life for many men, but I don't want it to drag on for so long in a story that's meant to help me forget day to day issues. Women who know their men have this problem call them on it and remind them they need to talk. Emily is all too willing to let it go and let him go. Then we get to the end and when he apologizes and spills the beans all is forgiven with very little effort or heartache on either part. At least I didn't feel it. In real life, these two would be doomed to repeating these same mistakes and they'd both be miserable.
BUT, here's what worked in the story. Ben was a good guy who wanted Emily to be happy. He was always there to help no matter what even before they started dating. I also liked that he didn't waver at all when the ex-girlfriend shows up with her manipulative ways. He was stupid for eating dinner with her, but other than that he sent her packing right away.
I really liked that Emily grew stronger in her confidence as the book went along. She felt she was taking a back seat in her own life even though she wasn't. As time passed she started to recognize her own accomplishments and the joy it had brought to her life.
The cast of supporting characters was good. It's easy to see where the next books in the series might come from.
All in all, the writing was clean, there was no bad language and no smut. I give Dating Do Over a 3.75. It falls short of the 4 only because I felt annoyed most of the time. Granted this could be me and not the actual story.
1-5 scale and what it means:
1: I couldn’t even finish it / just plain bad
2: I hope I didn’t pay for this / disappointing
3: I didn’t hate it, but it was still missing something / forgettable but inoffensive
3.5: On the line between good and ok / like, not love
4: Solid mind candy / worth reading
4.5: So very close to perfection! / must read
5: I could not put it down and I’m still thinking about it! / a true treasure
Movie Ratings in relation to my review:
Clean--Hallmark movies, some kissing, no nudity, no sex on or off "screen"
PG--Some innuendo but nothing kids don't hear every day, sex is all closed door
PG-13--some language (swear words not related to sex), more talk about sex, heavy petting, removal of clothing on screen, but sex is closed door.
PG-14—somewhere between PG-13 and R. Not erotica, but at least a paragraph of on-screen sex
R--swearing (F-bomb, on “screen” sex, sometimes feels like the whole story is about the sex and not the relationship or some other plot, but not always
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