Perfect Fit by Aimee Nicole Walker

Title: Perfect Fit (Fated Hearts #4)
Author: Aimee Nicole Walker
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: January 19, 2016
Genre(s): Contemporary
Page Count: 258
Reviewed by: Renée
Heat Level:  4 flames out of 5
Rating:   3.2 stars out of 5
Blurb:

Two incurable bachelors, one incredible journey…

Jagger Jackson hides behind a sexy playboy veneer. He’d rather people see him as a man who doesn’t believe in love, rather than one who doesn’t deserve it. No matter how hard he works, he still sees himself as the unlovable boy from the wrong side of the tracks.

Miller Brexler doesn’t believe he’ll ever meet a man who could make him want to settle down. He’s perfectly happy with his hit it and quit it lifestyle. Behind his easygoing nature is a man who’s passionately devoted to his career, family, and friends.

JJ and Miller are brought together when their best friends meet and fall in love. Sparks fly from the very beginning and no matter how much they try to fight it, their attraction is unavoidable. What starts out as “just sex” has the potential to become so much more if JJ can come to terms with his painful past, and Miller is willing to admit that love may be the missing piece in his seemingly perfect life.

Will these two stubborn hearts admit that they might’ve been wrong about love or will they allow the chance at true happiness to slip away? This is the tale of two imperfect men that together make a perfect fit.

Perfect Fit is the fourth book in the Fated Hearts series and can be read as a standalone novel or as part of the series. Many of the characters in the book have been introduced in Chasing Mr. Wright, Rhythm of Us, and Surrender Your Heart.

Am I ready to throw in the towel on this author? I fear I have hit the same affliction that some of my other reviewer friends have with Elsborg, Via, and the like. They battle with themselves, and it’s easy for me to tell them “Put it down….are you nuts?” I told myself it was the last time….well, last time. But then I wanted to read JJ and Miller’s story (<—-insert my whiny rationalization here).

So here’s the think with ANW. She sets up a pretty good story line for me. And she makes the first third to half of the book work pretty well, most of the time anyway. And then it’s like she doesn’t know what to do with the second part of her stories, and she falls into the trap of amateurish writers everywhere and pulls out “the big misunderstanding,” followed by the immature sulking of one of the MCs where he ignores the other MC and gives the silent treatment for days on end.

The other ANW issue – the cheese. She’s bit cheesy. It’s not in her dialogue (thank God – I’d have dropped her books faster you can say “honey lumpkins”), but it’s in the way her MCs evolve quickly and sharply from their characterization once they meet the other MC. I get that the infamous playboy can change his ways once he meets THE ONE, but you’ve gotta write that smoothly. And she doesn’t quite pull it off. One other point. She has one HEA and one HEA only – marriage and kids. I just can’t with this. How about ILY with a “Move in with me” epilogue? How about some kind of epilogue where they talk about possibly getting engaged down the road? There are lots of variations to try that we all love, Ms. Walker! Please STOP with the marriage and kids!!!

Ok, I’ve digressed. Because by now you’re like, Renée, why the every-lovin-fuck do you still read this shit? And it’s because the story does initially suck you in. And you get great sex! And great banter! And great secondary characters! And an HEA! All of my requirements in m/m romance.

I freakin LOVED JJ and Miller in the other stories! I knew I was reading this book, even with the disaster of book 3. Book 1, Chasing Mr. Wright, was pretty good, “the big misunderstanding” and subsequent immature pouting and silent treatment notwithstanding. So I had to read about JJ and Miller, the two biggest manwhores of the group who had no intentions of settling down with one person – EVER. Of course we could read the writing on the wall and they would be each others’ one twu lurve.

And the sex was gonna be off the fuckin charts HAWT! And, fuck, was it! Honestly, this was the best book of the series for me.

But surely ANW wouldn’t, couldn’t, go there with the marriage and babies…….right?

Riiiiiiiiight.

I don’t know, yall. There’s so much potential here for her to mature as an author. She needs to just stop it with these contrived dramatics and cookie-cutter HEAs. Because she knows how to set up her MCs and their stories well. The interesting part? This book is #1 on Amazon right now in the genre. I noticed when I bought it. So she probably doesn’t need to change a thing, does she?

Maybe a break for a while is what I need. Or maybe reading one more will force me to finally put it on my “stop reading this author” shelf.

 

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