Reviewed by Vicki

 

MEN OF MANHATTAN TRIO REVIEW

 

TITLE: A Betting Man

SERIES: Men of Manhattan #1

AUTHOR: Sandrine Gasq-Dion

PUBLISHER: Wilde City Press

LENGTH: 90 pages

BLURB:

How bad could one harmless bet be? Kent Samson is about to find out. Raised inAlabama, Kent has hidden his past and now loves his life as a big time ad exec for a prestigious advertising company in New York. But when he makes a bet with his best friend, Blaine, Kent is thrown for a loop—for Kent has to make the next person to walk through the door fall in love with him.

Terry Barron is hiding out in New York. Raised in England in a wealthy family, Terry escapes to New York to avoid arranged marriages and the lifestyle he’s grown to hate. When he delivers a package to an advertising firm, he meets the unbelievably sexy Kent Samson. Suddenly, secrets and lies complicate everything and both men find themselves in uncharted waters. How will Terry feel when Kent is revealed as a betting man?

 

REVIEW:

Oh Kent…. Why do you have to be such a jackass? Kent is perfect, pretty, arrogant, rich, snotty, a playboy looking for his next conquest. He’s not a nice person! Blaine, his best friend is bored at work one day and makes a bet with Kent. This seems to be a thing with these two, but this time it’s a cold, cold bet. Kent has to not only date the next person who walks in the door, but make them fall in love with him in the next six months. What a terrible concept! The next person to walk through the door is Terry, delivering a package to Kent. Conveniently Terry is young, gorgeous, and gay. Kent may not be gay, but he’s pretty sure he can fake it to win this stupid bet. So he begins to woo the unsuspecting Terry…

 

I have to say I’m not really sure I liked this plot. The whole idea of someone playing with the emotions of another person, attempting to “make” them fall in love is repulsive to me. I liked the characters, well, I didn’t like Kent at the beginning, but he grew on me as it progressed. Terry was the better of the two, I liked him much better. I liked the family bits, Kent isn’t quite as obnoxious when he’s home with his folks.. The writing was ok, it felt a bit rushed at times though, but it is a short story so had to come together quickly. The first person POV was intense, Kent in particular is vain and self obsessed. We get a description about how perfect and smart he is at the beginning that had my teeth on edge a bit.

 

It had the expected ending, it was good but not surprising. I liked it, but didn’t love it!

 

RATING:

 

BUY LINKS:

Wilde City Press

Amazon

ARe

 

TITLE: A Marrying Man

SERIES: Men of Manhattan #2

AUTHOR: Sandrine Gasq-Dion

PUBLISHER:Wilde City Press

LENGTH: 40,000 words

BLURB:

It’s been almost a year since a disastrous bet dropped Blaine McKlintock and his bestfriend, Kent Samson in hot water. Now, Kent is getting ready to propose to Terry Barron. Blaine couldn’t be happier for his best friend, but when Kent asks Blaine to plan the wedding, Blaine is thrown for a loop, especially when Kent drops another bomb. Spencer Cassidy will be helping. Blaine remembers Spencer very well, but the former Wall Street force doesn’t seem to remember him. Blaine’s changed a lot since the bet, but will Spencer see it too?

 

REVIEW:

A Marrying Man picks up a year after A Betting Man ends. Kent and Terry seem happy, Kent is ready to propose and have a rushed marriage. He enlists Blaine, the bet instigator, and Spencer, Terry’s boss, to plan the wedding. Instead of hiring a wedding planner… Conveniently Spencer’s mother is a retired wedding planner from back in the day, and immediately takes over for the clueless boys. Why would you ask two single men to plan a wedding? I just don’t get it…

 

Blaine is as spoiled as Kent, maybe not as obnoxious, but he is a perfect specimen of manhood, handsome, wealthy, intelligent, and a tramp. With mirrors on his ceiling. There is probably more too him than appears, we do get some family history for him which may explain his issues. His daddy is a manwhore, and his mother a drunk lawyer. Spencer has his own issues in the form of a nasty, money grabbing ex-wife, and a daughter he never sees. His parents seem ok, and he has a brother in the Army. But the ex-wife, wow. Could she be any more stereotypically bad?

 

I think that may be my problem with these books. I can’t relate to the characters at all. They are all so everything. So handsome, so smart, so rich, so perfect, so successful, with such extreme issues. The ex-wife is so evil, Kent’s parents are so country, Terry’s parents are so rich, Blaine’s dad is such a whore. Everything is an extreme, no subtly at all. I feel like I’ve been hit over the head with these guys. The plot was ok, but there were parts that didn’t make sense to me. One is Vanessa, the evil ex-bitch. Something happens and she has a total change of character that I didn’t understand. Actually Blaine’s ex-girlfriend did the same thing at one point, a complete personality change, even her voice changed. Why? No idea.

 

But the writing is good. I didn’t particularly like the plot, or the characters, but I can see that Sandrine is a good technical writer. I need to go try another series and see if I like it better. I don’t dislike these, but just can’t get in to them.

 

RATING:

 

BUY LINKS:

Wilde City Press

Amazon

ARe

 

TITLE: A Fighting Man

SERIES: Men of Manhattan #3

AUTHOR: Sandrine Gasq-Dion

PUBLISHER: Wilde City Press

LENGTH: 103 pages

BLURB:

Army Ranger Slater Cassidy has a very special – very sexy – target in his sights.Meeting gorgeous, smart, uber-snarky Casper Kennedy was the highlight of Slater’s last trip home to New York. The soldier in him carefully plans his conquest. Unfortunately, Casper’s wearing some seriously strong armor and Slater’s charm offensives bounce right off. Casper’s refusal to fall for him is puzzling – not to mention incredibly annoying. When Slater gets leave again after grueling back-to-back tours in Afghanistan, all he wants is another shot at wooing Casper. He jumps right into the battle for the other man’s heart, but Casper does not intend to entertain the troops. A heartbreaking revelation changes the rules of romantic warfare, and Slater suddenly realizes he doesn’t just want Casper. He wants to capture his heart, too.

Casper Kennedy is fighting a losing battle. A certain outrageously demonstrative Army Ranger has been a thorn in his side since his last trip home – and the main character in his steamiest dreams. Now he’s back. He launches an all-out sensual assault and no matter how hard Casper pushes Slater away, the man somehow manages to inch closer. So close, in fact, that Casper’s once-impenetrable defenses are in danger of collapsing. Should he throw up the white flag and take a chance at love? Or start firing back and keep his heart protected? When the handsome Ranger shows his true colors, Casper just might have to surrender the fight.

 

REVIEW:

Well. I liked this one better than the last two! Slater was hard to get in to at first, he is pushy, rude, and obnoxious for the first third of the book. Then he had a personality transplant. Once he learns what Casper’s issue is, he turns in to a decent guy. Mostly. Casper I liked best… He’s sweet and damaged, rejected by his family, and has lost the love of his life. He’s got good drama in his background, doesn’t come from money, and isn’t a spoiled snot like the rest of the men. I get that Slater liked him, but I wish he had chosen to woo him instead of browbeating him in to accepting a date. Once he does let up a bit and Casper goes out with him, I quite enjoyed the story.

 

In fact I cried a couple of times! There is some drama with Casper at a cemetery that had me teary eyed, twice actually. And I teared up a bit when Slater freaked out over an issue I don’t want to give away. Although this plot was better than the others, it seemed more real, I still had some issues with it. It was predictable. Exactly what I thought would happen, did in fact happen. I saw a couple of things coming a mile away. I followed along and enjoyed it all, but the big plot issues were so set up it was no surprise. I liked the ending very much, even though it felt a bit forced on Casper, as a lot of things were. But it had a nice happy ending, and I’m guessing there’ll be more books in the series.

 

RATING:

 

BUY LINKS:

Wilde City Press

Amazon

 

SERIES COMMENTS:

So I’ve read all three now, and I feel like I missed something. They all got really good reviews, so I was expecting to enjoy them more than I did. I didn’t dislike them, I DID like them, but not as much as some of the other reviewers did. Reading is such a personal thing though, as readers we bring something to books, as obviously the author does as well. When I read a book I look at the plot, the characters, the writing, and the physical/emotional connection between the characters. I don’t have to like everything about a book to enjoy it, I can read a book about characters I don’t like, or with a plot I don’t like, and still like the book. That was the case with this series as a whole. I didn’t like the plot in book one at all. Books two and three were better. I couldn’t relate to most of the characters, they were too overdone. Except Casper and Terry, I liked them just fine! The physical connection between the various couple was nice, the sex scenes were hot. The emotional connection was hit and miss for me. Some I liked, some I didn’t. I do think the writing was technically good, even with the plot issues I had. Overall I liked the series, but didn’t love it. I do think they got better as they progressed. The characters from the first book were better in the second and third books, same with the boys from the second book, they improved by the third book. I liked this series well enough to go look at more of Sandrine’s books!