Stud by Kelly Siskind Series: One Wild Wish #2
Series Rating:
Published by CD Books on January 31st, 2018
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 347
Format: eARC
Source: Purchased
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This Habitat for Humanity build is about to erect more than walls...
I don’t fall for the bad boy or try to tie down the commitment-phobe. Nope. Those dating ruts would be understandable. My pattern of hunky male crushing involves falling for gay men.
So when I meet Owen Phillips at a Habitat for Humanity project, a man as sexy as a cowboy drenched in sunset, I refrain from flirting openly. I do my darndest to gauge his interest first.
Unfortunately, after sharing lunches and falling hard for my construction hunk, I catch another man squeezing his fine behind.
Turns out the butt squeezer is Owen’s brother, not a lover, and I’m about to embarrass the heck out of myself…
STUD is a full-length, standalone Smart, Sexy Romantic Comedy. One-click your copy today!
Stud by Kelly Siskind was… fine. I really liked Ainsley, and I loved her job. I have absolutely no fashion or shopping talent whatsoever, and I very much wish that I did, so reading about someone who does, and has built a life for herself with that talent, was so fun. I completely understand why she’s so frustrated with her current business model in the beginning of the book, and liked watching her figure out how to change it and get the life she really wants.
And I liked Owen. By all accounts he’s a nice guy in a shitty situation with his not-quite-ex-wife. He builds houses for Habitat for Humanity and is trying to grow a woodworking/furniture-building business on the side.
However. Together, these two were just… fine. I didn’t really understand most of Owen’s decisions. Ainsley’s biggest relationship hurdle is honesty. (Again, one dude cheated on her, so now all men are suspect). So Owen decides that the best way to make sure Ainsley doesn’t think he’s lying is… to lie to her. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. And he doesn’t just not tell her about certain pieces of his life, he actively tells her lies. Repeatedly. In order to…. make her see how honest he is? Not lie to her?
I was annoyed by the portrayal of Owen’s ex-wife, too. She’s another woman who’s just a bitch for no reason. She’s apparently having Ainsley followed, sending nasty text messages and having her friends send nasty text messages, and mailing pictures (which – mailing? She can get Ainsley’s phone number to send nasty texts, but has to snail mail pictures?) of things that are innocent but have been edited to look like they weren’t. She refuses to admit the marriage is over, despite the fact that Owen left her about a year ago, and MOVED TO ANOTHER STATE. Again – no reason, this is just because this is how exes are generally portrayed in romance.
This was a case of insta-love on both sides, which isn’t really my favorite trope. Insta-lust, sure, hand that shit over. But actual love after a conversation and maybe one night together is a little farfetched for me to buy into.
This is the 2nd book in a series, but it read just fine as a standalone. I liked the writing, so I would probably try at least one more Kelly Siskind book, but this one was just mediocre.
About Kelly Siskind
A small-town girl at heart, Kelly moved from the city to open a cheese shop with her husband in northern Ontario. When she’s not neck deep in cheese or out hiking, you can find her, notepad in hand, scribbling down one of the many plot bunnies bouncing around in her head.
She laughs at her own jokes and has been known to eat her feelings—gummy bears heal all. She’s also an incurable romantic, devouring romance novels into the wee hours of the morning.
