Good Girls Don't [Mass Market Paperback]

4-1/2 Stars

I first became aware of this series after reading the Prequel in The Guy Next Door: Ready, Set, Jett\Gail's Gone Wild\Just One Taste (Hqn). When I read the prequel, I was angry. I was mad that anthology printed unfinished stories with the tag line "to find out what happens next pick up the REAL book." Even with that frustration, Dahl's story "Just One Taste" about Eric and Beth was my favorite, even though it WAS NOT a complete story. Ugh. Okay, rant over because obviously I wasn't annoyed enough to ignore this series: Either that or I got over my anger since the prequel came out so long ago.

Tessa Donovan is the peacemaker in her family, always being the good girl to keep her brothers from fighting and to keep their family business on track. When a huge business deal big brother, Eric, has been working on for months falls because of actions of playboy brother, Jamie, Tessa is sure she can fix this. She's been covering up for years. However, when a break-in at their family brewery occurs and brings Detective Luke Asher to the brewery, it's becoming increasingly difficult for Tessa to keep her stories straight. Eric and Jamie are convinced Tessa is a good girl, a sweet and innocent girl. They have no idea. But Luke does.

I so enjoy Ms. Dahl's work. She hits the right balance of story, plot, and romance. She doesn't throw sex in there at weird and random times. Everything flows so nicely and smoothly. Her characters always feel so real and well rounded.

I really enjoyed Tessa. She was 14 when her parents were killed in a car accident and was raised by her two older brothers. Well, she did some raising of her brothers, too. Always afraid that if she isn't perfect and doesn't keep the peace between her brothers that she'll lose the only family she has left. When Jamie's actions cause Eric's dream deal to sink, Tessa is adamant she can fix this. She's a fixer. Even when everything starts to fall around her, she is sure she can still fix it.

Luke was such a perfect match for Tessa. He and Jamie were friends in College (hence Jamie's misgivings about seeing the two together.) There are a lot of rumors swirling around their small town about Luke, most are false.

I really enjoyed the development of Tessa and Luke's romance. Things weren't always smooth, yet they worked at it to find a balance. They both had issues to work through, but it all felt relevant to the story.

I did enjoy the little cameo by Beth. Oh, Eric! You so have it coming to you. I really can't wait to read the rest of your story in Real Men Will (Hqn). But first I get to find out what Jamie wears under his kilt in Bad Boys Do (Hqn).

The Donovan Brothers Brewery Series
"Just One Taste" in The Guy Next Door: Ready, Set, Jett\Gail's Gone Wild\Just One Taste (Hqn)
GOOD GIRLS DON'T
Bad Boys Do (Hqn)
Real Men Will (Hqn)

When Tessa Donovan's older brother Jamie makes an error in judgement that threatens her family's brewery and the relationship between him and their eldest brother Eric, Tessa flies into damage control mode. She'll do anything to re-secure the deal that Jamie's impulsive behavior had blown, just to keep the peace in her family. Making her life more complicated is her attraction to police detective Luke Asher, the cop investigating the robbery of the brewery's computer and some of its product.

Not that the attraction itself causes complications. Her over-protective big brothers do that all on their own. And when Jamie, who knew Luke from their shared college days, informs Tessa that Luke isn't the man she thinks he is and explains some of Luke's dark past, Tessa has that much more to think about. She's the queen of keeping secrets, but those that Luke hold may threaten the foundations on which she rests her heart. And that's way too big a risk to take...no matter how much Tessa may want to.

I've got a big problem with this book. I thoroughly enjoy Dahl's writing style and admire the breezy, fast-moving narrative, sexy dialogue, and lighter tone. I loved Luke, and was particularly pleased with the way Dahl added some depth to his character by shackling him with a truly nasty reputation. The way truths were slowly revealed was very appealing and made him and his backstory seem genuine and his pain heartfelt. I enjoyed him in the book immensely.

Then there are the Donovans. Rarely have I been as disgusted by two characters as I was of Tessa and her older brother Jamie. I was leery of them both from the very start. The book begins with Jamie confessing to Tessa that he had sex with the daughter of the man who owns the company with which their eldest brother Eric has been negotiating for months to secure a distribution contract. Despite being repeatedly warned against doing just that...though the fact that he needed the warning to begin with sort of makes a statement all its own - one that nearly screams that he's a frickin' moron with impulse control problems.

Jamie didn't mean to sex up daddy's little girl, of course. I guess he tripped and fell on her while his...flag was flying high. Oops.

Then, to compound that idiocy, Tessa not only plans to keep Jamie's rampant hormonal stupidity a secret from Eric, but when Jamie further confesses that the woman's father may have seen him as Jamie left her place that morning, she dives headfirst into a covert life of backdoor negotiations, pleas, and begging to prevent the man from backing out of the deal that had been moments from being signed. She lies to Eric and when Jamie wants to do the right thing and confess, she convinces him not to. She lies to...well...almost every other primary and secondary character in the book, also, including herself. Even Luke is not spared her falsehoods, prevarications, and omissions, and she LIKES him. In fact, from what I could figure judging from various sections of Tessa's internal monologue, that whole lying thing is second nature to Tessa by now.

I can't like a heroine who is so completely incapable of honesty, regardless of the reason. Tessa didn't stop there, though. She multiplied my displeasure by not only being a pathological liar, but by being what, for me, is the only thing worse. A complete and utter hypocrite. It's apparently fine for her to lie to anyone and everyone, but don't so much as omit a detail to her, regardless of its consequence in the grand scheme, or she'll treat you like you're a communicable disease. Charming girl, really.

By the time some glimpse of reason for her neurotic pathology and her emotionally needy self-absorption came into the story, I was beyond caring. I already hated her. A lot. No amount of the author trying to convince me that Tessa acted like such a freak because of a deep-seated fear of losing her brothers and being hurt by Luke was going to make her character seem sympathetic to me.

Unfortunately, if I don't like one of the two lead characters in a romance novel, than the romance doesn't work for me, i.e. the book doesn't work for me. Sadly, it doesn't matter how well-written the plot, or how appealing the other characters, or how pleasant the writing style, I just don't enjoy the read.

I didn't enjoy Good Girls Don't, and though Jamie did end up being a character I felt for by the end, and he did want to be honest with Eric from the start, given his unbelievable stupidity in the beginning of this book, I'm very concerned about what's coming in his own. Dahl certainly has the ability to completely redeem a character and provide a thoroughly entertaining book featuring Jamie as the male romantic lead. I just hope she does so.

Disclosure: An ARC of this book was provided to me by Harlequin via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.

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Reviewed for One Good Book Deserves Another.

The glimpse of a potentially good story get weighted down by annoying minutae that creates disconnects between the various plot lines. The best part of the book are the scenes of intimacy but as a reader I was constantly switching gears trying to remain interested in a heroine who was so stupidly juvenile in how she attempted to "handle" her brothers and her good girl in the business/whore in the bedroom multiple personalty she vacillated between. I also could not fathom the backstory of the hero Luke and why his former marriage and his time spent on the LAPD caused so much emotional trauma to then have him repeatedly run interference for his pregnant partner... as some sort of badge of honor FOR WHAT?!!! It made no sense.

The other 2 brothers Eric & Jaime presented interesting characters but I was so bored with the sibling bickering that I just did not care by mid-way through the book. As for the minutae, let me back up a bit and say I am sure it is hard to create a story that engages the reader in to the characters in such a way that the reader becomes interested in what their home is like, their business, the things that make them tick... But I swear to god if I had to read one more line about bi-sexual Wallace and his love of his beer tanks I was going to lose my mind. That accompanied by details of how Tessa walked over to her brothers house rang the bell. Waited. Figured he was not home. Walked back to her house. Her brother showed up. Let himself in with his key. How dare he use the key at a whim. Rats he's using the key while I'm having sex! Oh gosh she needs to get the key back but couldn't bring herself to ask for the key because this was truly his home too. Damn it! that's it I want the key because you are invading my space and my privacy!. Ohh no... It's ok keep the key just call before you come over. Then the dull as dirt investigation. WHO CARES IF YOU HAVE TO PULL VIDEO?!!... IT'S BORING, IT'S TEDIOUS, IT'S PART OF POLICE WORK... IT'S YOUR JOB!. The author spent pages intermittently throughout the book yapping about camera angles and the lazy file room clerk who could not get them their files. It was like reading about watching paint dry. Ridiculous!

If the publisher could lift the sex scenes from the book and fill in the blanks with a stronger story with more consistent flow and less annoying life details, then the rest of the series might be salvageable. But for now, THIS "Good Girl" don't want to buy the next book in the series.

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