Divorced, Desperate, and Deceived, by Christie Craig - Review

Death is easy, comedy is hard
So they say. I think "rom-com" -- romantic comedy-- can be especially hard to pull off; humor is really subjective and what you might find hilarious, I might... well... not. For instance, I totally can't stand Rachel Gibson, but I know she's a huge favorite. What can I say, her humor doesn't make me laugh.

This book had a couple of strikes against it for me. It's third in a series and I haven't read the first two. Overall, this didn't matter too much except for one fairly WTF moment regarding one of the former couples (she's pregnant):

... he tapped her cheek with a fingertip. "Don't start worrying, Lacy. You've got my kid to think about. I'll do all the worrying, okay?*"

I mean, really?? "Don't worry your pretty little head about it!??" Although I threw up a little in my mouth right there, I managed to get past it because they weren't the main couple here and I could ignore them pretty easily.

The other thing, honestly? is the title. I don't mind divorced or deceived, but come on, there's nothing sexy about desperation. Really.

Fortunately, the two main characters really sparkled and they had great chemistry. I believed the romance, and that's the most important thing.

The story had great pacing and Craig powers you through a classic car-chase/road-romance set up. Now, the seriousness of the crime plot seemed really at odds with the "romp" style and it pretty much kept me from buying into the darker aspect of the plot at all. And I had some issues with the way a particular secondary character was written (ie, the fact that his internal dialog made him sound mentally challenged) but I ended up liking the role he played in the plot quite a lot.

Overall, I think this author has a certain style that appeals to a lot of people but just isn't for me. I'm confident that there's an audience for her work though, because I think she really nailed the main characters, and the spark between them.

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*Note: the quote is pulled from an uncorrected proof - there may be slight differences to the final published copy.

Disclaimer: A review copy was provided to me by Dorchester Publishing.

In stores now (pub date 11/24/09.)