Reviewed by Taylor
TITLE: Shoes & Ties
AUTHOR: Jenna Wade
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: 111 Pages
BLURB: Ashten Brody is a chef fresh out of college. He lands his dream job working as a personal chef to Trent Cole, local luxury hotel owner. As it turns out, Trent is also his dream man.
After working together, the two are unable to deny their attraction. One late night they can’t hold back any longer. Too bad Ashten rushes off soon after.
In the weeks that follow, it appears to Ashten that he has landed his dream man and his dream job. He and Trent appear to be on the path to a serious relationship and life-long happiness. Life seems to be just too perfect…
REVIEW:
Ashten Brody is a young chef looking for his big break and dream job working as a personal chef to Trent Cole, a luxury hotel owner. There is instant attraction and not long after working together, they give in to their attraction and everything appears great until one night things go horribly wrong for the couple.
OK, so this isn’t necessarily bad but nothing about it was memorable about it either. I read this and literally a day later could not recall either of the characters’ names, their professions, or how and why they liked each other. I just remembered that big, dramatic event towards the end (more on that later). This might just be me and my tastes, though. I like all kinds of books, but I need things with teeth. If you are going to give me sweet and easy, I need the characters to have banter and wit that I enjoy. I can’t do insta-love ever. Ever. So where are my problems exactly? I just wasn’t invested in either character separately and together I found them bland as all get out.
Ashten is 23, lives with his twin brother, and has found his dream man in Trent, a 30 year-old successful and confident man. But I didn’t feel either character had enough nuance, they felt as if they could have been removed from the story and inserted with two new characters I had just read about and I wouldn’t have noticed the difference. They are Teflon characters. Nothing stuck to them or me with remembering them. Going back and skimming I recall that immediately both Trent and Ashten are attracted to the other, but there isn’t really any unresolved sexual tension…at least not in a palpable way.
Ashten takes care of Trent when falls ill and I guess those scenes were sweet enough. They just get along and everything is super easy between the two. Surprisingly there aren’t any smexy times before 40%, so if you want a delay in the action, this might be good. But again, despite the intimate scenes not coming till almost the half-way point, I still didn’t feel a build-up of the relationship that I cared when or if they actually finally got together. Plus, the internal ‘I love you’s came too fast for me.
I don’t think I have words for that dramatic zomg scene towards the end. Yes, I do. Seriously???? Was that necessary??? Why was that in there? I just can’t. It was so silly and ridiculous. I would have enjoyed the book for what it was – sweet and easy – much more without that whole plot point in there. It felt like two different books or an episode of the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful.
But here’s the thing: a lot of people are going to like this book. It’s got two young, determined men who forge a friendship and act on their attraction and feelings for each other. Little to no angst between them and some major dramazzz going on as exterior forces. It just had too many factors I’m never a fan of in my books going for it.
Taylor rates it – 
BUY LINKS: Loose Id :: Amazon
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Taylor is one of the official reviewers on The Blog of Sid Love.
To read all her reviews, click the link: TAYLOR’S REVIEWS
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