ARC Review – Giving It All by Christi Barth

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Giving It All by Christi Barth
Published by Loveswept on January 17, 2017
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 224
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
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Christi Barth’s smoking-hot contemporary romance series continues as the five best friends who survived a tragedy as teenagers take to their Naked Men podcast to open up about women. In Giving It All, the group’s globe-trotting hunk discovers that you need to go home to find love.  Logan Marsh never stays in one place for long. Through his family’s foundation, Logan spends his days traveling to the world’s most dangerous places to deliver disaster relief, which really puts a damper on his sex life—until he reconnects with his high-school crush. Stranded together in the Caribbean, they enjoy a steamy fling that awakens feelings Logan has ignored for too long. But family drama calls him away from her sweet embrace . . . or so he thinks.   Brooke Gallagher loved being a home economics teacher and cheerleading coach. Then an unexpected tragedy forced her to take some time off. Now she’s back in D.C. and despite the intensity of her tropical encounter with Logan, she’s shocked to bump into him again. Logan’s dealing with his own issues (including a newly discovered half-sister) and he’s itching to get back on the road. More than anything, Brooke wants to be there for him. But first, he has to decide if love is enough to keep him in one place.  Praise for Christi Barth’s Risking It All
 
“The perfect escapist read—sweet and sexy, with an ending that will remind you of all the reasons you love romance.”—USA Today bestselling author Lauren Layne   “Smart, sexy, and flat-out fun, Risking It All is one story readers will have a hard time putting down. Christi Barth’s heroes will make you laugh, sigh, and swoon—what could be better?”—USA Today bestselling author Kimberly Kincaid  “Barth writes the perfect blend of humor, pathos, and romance.”—Library Journal  Includes a special message from the editor, as well as an excerpt from another Loveswept title.

This is the third book in the Naked Men series, and the 2nd one I’ve read. I missed the second book apparently. I don’t think I’m going to read any more of them. The biggest thing for me is the men. I just really, really don’t like them.

Logan is the do-gooder of the group, constantly flying off to natural disaster sites, helping to rebuild and help find people. But he’s coming home early because he just found out that he has a sister he knew nothing about. He wants to meet her and talk to his dad to find out how he managed to have another child and then ignore her for twenty-four years.

But he’s also really pissed off because apparently Madison, his sister, has been dating his best friend, Knox. This is my big problem with this book and these guys. Apparently Knox is a well-known and self-described man-whore. Fine. I don’t care who sleeps with who. What I do care about is Logan’s fury that Knox would dare to sleep with his sister. “I know how you treat women. You treat them like fucking tissues.” Which everyone has been just fine with. No one has said word one to Knox about his treatment of women. All of these men have been a-okay with Knox treating women like tissues, but now that one of those women is Logan’s sister, it’s an issue. First of all, if those women were just in it for a good time, then Knox wasn’t treating them like tissues, they were all consenting adults getting exactly what they were after. And if Madison was in that same boat, then so be it. She’s an adult; she’s more than capable of getting laid. But Logan’s fury that it was ok for Knox to treat all the other women like they were disposable, but not okay to treat Madison like that, really pisses me off. All of those women were somebody’s sister, or daughter, or friend, or ex, or cousin, or whatever. But Knox and Logan should only concern themselves with the feeling of the women their group of five is related to. All the other women in the world don’t matter.

I hate this so much. It’s one of the reasons the best friend/big brother trope is one of my least favorite. “Every woman on earth is worth being treated like garbage except the ones related to me and my friends” is not ok. And from what I can tell, no one has ever had anything to say to Knox about is treatment of women before he got involved with Madison. Suddenly it’s an issue.

These guys use their blog and their podcast to air all their grievances, which is fine. It’s what blogs and podcasts are for. But they don’t filter themselves at all. Their secrets that aren’t theirs, dirty laundry they have no right to air, and don’t care at all. This is the second book in the series I’ve read, and the second time the main character in question has done it, so I have to assume it’s a habit. And it’s awful. Griff in the first book talking on air about Chloe being a virgin and how it was such a big deal for him. And now here Logan telling everyone about how Brooke is a weight dragging him down with all of her unreasonable “don’t leave for months at a time when you don’t have to” requests.

I’m not necessarily done with Christi Barth. She’s a good writer, and I’d be willing to try a different series. But I’m definitely done with this series.

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