Back on Fever Mountain by Melissa Davenport

​CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Publication date:03/29/2018
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Cliffhanger: No
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I was once again lured in by a hot, intense looking guy on a book cover, a decent blurb, and the promise of a grumpy recluse hero. And I once again paid the price for my shallow 1-clicking behavior. Sigh. When will I learn?         

First of all, you’ll notice that this is a complete trilogy about one couple. I only read part 1. So, I won’t be complaining about how part 1 completely lacked any resolution or love declarations. It’s not a HEA because the story isn’t complete after book 1. But if you decide to read this one (and if you do, don’t say I didn’t warn you), make sure you download the complete trilogy and not just book 1, which is The Cabin Escape. 

Here’s what went wrong with this one:

The heroine
The heroine, Amanda, is a complete doormat. And worse, she’s not even an interesting doormat. If a heroine is going to be a doormat, I at least need her to be entertaining. Amanda, sadly, had no redeeming qualities as far as I’m concerned. When her fiance tossed her out of their apartment, (crudely and as rudely as possible) she went without a fight of any kind. She didn’t stand up for herself at all. Just packed up her meager belongings and hit the road.

When she ends up with the hero, Jason, she applies to be his maid, and once hired, she lets HIM treat her like crap without standing up for herself. Ever. Not once. At this point, I want to reach into my Kindle, grab her by the throat, and shake her until she either dies, or decides to fight back.

Then, as if being a boring doormat wasn’t bad enough, when Jason acts a fool and throws her out, Amanda, in all her TSTL romance heroine wisdom, decides to ask her ex (the one who treated her like crap and threw her out of their house) if she can stay with him for the night. Good plan, Amanda. (*rolls eyes so hard I get a migraine*) Not to get too spoilery, but the ex does exactly what everyone in the world (except Amanda) would expect him to do. I don’t even feel a bit bad for Aman-duh.

(And side note to Aman-duh: When your doctor tells you there’s nothing wrong with you and you still can’t get pregnant, chances are it’s your partner’s faulty swimmers. After being told you’re OK, it’s not cool to have unprotected sex with someone and tell them you’re infertile, because you’re not. ‘Cause your doctor told you that you were fine, remember, honey? I understand it’s a lot to take in, but do try to keep up, Aman-duh. Being so, so pretty with your heart-shaped face and big green eyes is no excuse for ignorance.)

The hero
He’s an asshat. There’s really no reason at all for his behavior. He’s just a jerk who treats Aman-duh like crap because he can’t control his dick’s reaction to her and it pisses him off. I have no tolerance for such dumbfuckery.

Grammar police
Y’all know I’m not a grammar Nazi, but this one has enough errors that even I noticed. Lots of “you’re” instead of “your” and that kind of thing. If I had to guess, I’d say the book was either not professionally edited, or very sloppily and hastily edited.

So, long-story-short, this one was an insult to all the great grumpy recluse reads out there. It was a bad book in a good book’s clothing, in other words. I’m both angry and bummed out that I wasted my time reading it.   

Does this book contribute to or help crush the romance stigma?
Stigma city. It’s the Charlie Sheen of romance. No rehab can help it.  

Other reading suggestions
Read literally anything else on our recluse hero “best of” list. You won’t regret it.

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