Monday, June 6, 2016

Review: "Up All Night" by Michele Callahan (Contemporary Romance)

Up All Night (#3)
by Michele Callahan

Publisher: Tydbyts Media
Series: Love You Like a Love Song
Crash and Burn (#1) (affil.)
Alone With You (#2) (affil.)
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publication Date: March 30, 2016




(Affiliate links)
Description from Publisher: Once upon a time Mitchell Walker fell in love...and trusted the wrong woman. That one mistake nearly cost him his future. His older brother, Derek, stepped in to take the fall. Mitchell has never forgiven himself for that day, and vowed to never trust another woman.

Now he is a young, successful surgeon. Women throw themselves at his feet, and he gives them what they want, as long as they don't ask for his heart. The strategy is working well for him until he meets freelance reporter Jessica Finley.

She's smart, she makes him laugh, and she sees right through his playboy persona. When Mitchell finds out she has links to the past he's tried so hard to forget, his life implodes, and Jessica is at the center of the detonation.

Jessica's fire may burn hot enough to keep him up all night, but will her love be strong enough to burn away the ghosts of his past and melt the ice around his heart?



My Rating:
Heat Rating:

I received a digital ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.com for an honest, unbiased review. This in no way influenced my review. My opinion is my 100% own.

This book reminded me of "Grey's Anatomy" at first, complete with interesting family dynamics and half-siblings and a "McSteamy" (or, in this story, Doctor Hottie-pants or Doctor "Drop Your Panties"). I liked how Josie and Mitchell spent a weekend together doing normal things without it just being about sex. It felt cute and sweet, and like they were going to build up a great bond before taking the inevitable plunge. But then, they were all of a sudden deeply in love but refused to admit it, despite constantly thinking about it.

There was a break from that with Mitchell's heartbreak over losing a patient, which I appreciated as it was another great bonding moment between them.

I wish there had been more depth and exploration of their issues, especially Josie's. She went from "No marriage. No kids. All Doctors are cheaters" to being married and, presumably, knocked up a month later. What exactly changed her mind? Just falling in love?? I also didn't care for the way she decided she wanted to be pregnant as it felt more like the desperate and overly emotional and irrational move of someone who was just broken up with, rather than a mature, well-thought out decision to change her mind right then and there.

That was part of the reason the way the climax was dealt with didn't sit right with me. Josie, in particular, had some obvious issues brought on by her parents' lack of genuine commitment to their spouses. Not to mention, the fact that her dad married her best friend (I would have liked to see more of how exactly that happened and exactly what happened to their friendship.) Despite these cavernous issues, Josie basically promises that she'll trust Mitchell and never freak out at him again and all is forgiven. If only it were that easy to shed one's hangups!

I'm not big on possessive alpha males either. All of the "She's MINE!" and "He wanted to mark her" was a turn-off for me, though I do understand how popular that type of hero is.

Overall, this was a solid read, but I really would have liked either more depth, or more fluff. It had some wonderful potential. Perhaps I need to have read the other books in the series to get more from this one.

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