REVIEW: Tyler by C.H. Admirand

Title: Tyler (The Secret Life of Cowboys series, #1)
Author: C.H. Admirand
Format: ARC, 337 pages
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: review copy from publisher
Published: March 1, 2011 by Sourcebooks Casablanca

Faced with a mountain of bills, rancher Tyler Garahan takes a night job with a lot of trepidation. But being a male performer at a strip club does come with at least one beautiful compensation-and feisty red-haired bookkeeper Emily Langley seems to understand Tyler even better than he understands himself...

Why I Read this Book: I hadn’t read a cowboy romance before and I’ve been itching to give one a try. When I saw this book, I thought this would be a good start. And at a quick glance, the guy on the cover reminds me of Josh Harnett ;) Sadly, Tyler was a DNF for me.

What I Liked: The premise was interesting and sounded kind of funny. Tyler seems like a good guy who’s found himself in a tough financial situation. Desperate times call for desperate measures so he finds himself resorting to performing as a male stripper to pay off some debt. This seemingly ‘normal’ guy trying his hand at stripping is something I find hilarious. There’s going to be some awkward moments and I was game for this.

The author writes distinct and descriptive characters. Jolene and Emily, the club owners, are overly aggressive. Then you’ve got Tyler who is very timid and passive. Tyler’s got manners and respect. He’s a good guy and I wanted things to work out for him. When I was reading this book, I could easily visualize it as a movie playing out in my head.

What I Didn’t Like: The beginning part where Tyler is applying for the job is a bit drawn out. The writing is heavily descriptive. At times it felt like I was reading a movie script. Literally. I like descriptive characters but I don’t want my reading experience to feel as though I’m reading a screenplay. It was very descriptive with mundane things.

Emily reached for her toothbrush and tube of toothpaste. Squeezing out a thin line along the bristles, she brushed her teeth while wondering if she was jumping the gun where Tyler was concerned. […]

She ran her hands under the warm water and splashed her face before reaching for the apricot scrub, squeezing some onto her fingertips. Working the cleanser into her pores, she weighed the pros and cons of beginning a relationship that might only be short-term.

It’s too much information. I don’t need that much detail in regards to a character’s nightly ritual.

Another thing I had a problem with was Tyler and Emily swooning over each other too soon. I get instant attraction but I like relationships to build up over time. I’m not too fond of love at first sight romances, especially when it comes on too strong. I just wasn’t feeling the instant connection between Tyler and Emily.

Overall Impression: This book was a DNF for me. I got to page 66 of Tyler before realizing this book wasn’t the one for me. The book had a very interesting premise but I couldn’t connect with Tyler’s and Emily’s strong initial attraction. This author’s forte is love at first sight romance novels. So if reading love at first sight romance stories are your cup of fiction, and you enjoy reading cowboy romances, I recommend you give this one a go.

 

The Book Vixen’s Rating:

DNF