The Storm by KC Crowne

Category: Romantic Suspense 
Publication date: 09/22/2019
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Cliffhanger: No

This book’s blurb and subtitle are VERY misleading. I hate to be a spoiler who spoils, but there isn’t really a mountain man or a baby (until the very very end) in The Storm: A Mountain Man’s Secret Baby.    

Plot overview: A retired Navy Seal who does security-type work with his other retired Navy Seal friends (as retired Navy Seals are legally required to do in Romancelandia) gets a second chance with his childhood sweetheart, who also happens to be his sister’s best friend (it’s like trope bingo, y’all), when she comes to his city to attend a concert. She somehow manages to piss off a mobster and put herself in mortal danger in the process. ​

I’ll start by saying that I adore the cover. Kudos to you, you wonderful cover designer you! 

Now, on to the not-so-sunshine-y stuff. 

I was expecting a forced proximity, stuck-in-a-snowstorm-with-a-hot-mountain-man romance based on this description and cover. I was HORRIBLY let down. Just because Jackson lives in the mountains doesn’t make him a “mountain man” by romance novel standards. Mountain men in romance novels are supposed to be grumpy loners who chop wood shirtless and hunt for their dinner. Jackson was NOT that guy. 

Also, with a title like The Storm, I don’t think I’m being unreasonable when I say I was expecting a snowstorm of epic proportions to trap the hero and heroine together in his tiny cabin. The storm in this book was more of a it’s-snowing-so-it’s-probably-safer-to-take-an-Uber-to-the-concert-than-it-is-to-drive-myself kind of storm. That’s a typical Tuesday in December for those of us in the Midwest. I was NOT impressed by this storm. 

There’s a whole bit in the beginning about Gabby finding her hovering, gross, almost-stalker of a boyfriend banging a bartender in the bar bathroom. I failed to see what the point of this was. Gabby wasn’t heartbroken by this because she didn’t really like him that much anyway. (As to why she’s dating a guy she doesn’t like...I dunno. I guess we’re just supposed to roll with it.) And further, we don’t get to know that gross boyfriend that well, but banging a random while his girlfriend—who he pretty much stalks—seemed out of character. I wouldn’t think an obsessed guy would bang a random. But, again, I guess I’m supposed to just roll with it. Sigh.
​
I couldn’t make myself give a crap about Gabby. She dates a guy she doesn’t even like, physically assaults a guy who sexually harasses her in a bar (and it was fairly minimal sexual harassment, y’all. She was well within her rights to tell him off, tell him to get lost, and threaten to call for help, maybe even shove him away, but at the point when she physically attacks the guy, it was a totally over-the-top reaction that could’ve landed her in jail with an assault charge against her, frankly), and has sex with her ex about a minute after finding out she’s been cheated on. She made no sense at all to me. 

And don’t even get me started on the suspense-y ending in which Gabby is kidnapped after stomping her feet like a two-year-old and rushing off into the snow on a dangerous night to see a concert. (Any reasonably intelligent woman would’ve listened to the warnings Jackson was giving her, but noooooo, Gabby wanted to prove she could take care of herself. Spoiler alert: she couldn’t.)

So, long-story-short, this one didn’t deliver on what it promised AT ALL, despite having a great blurb and a truly awesome cover. Boo!      
  
Does this book contribute to or help crush the romance stigma?
Stigma: This book is your Queen.

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