REVIEW: Only Mine by Susan Mallery

Title: Only Mine (Fool’s Gold, #4)
Author: Susan Mallery
Format: eARC
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: NetGalley
Published: July 26, 2011 by HQN Books

You can't win if you don't play...

Her town's lack of men may make headlines, but it isn't news to Dakota Hendrix. The beautiful blonde has bigger problems to deal with, such as overseeing the romance reality competition filming in Fool's Gold. Screening eligible bachelors is a difficult enough task, but Dakota hits an unexpected snag when a sexy stranger comes to town.

Finn Anderssen will do anything to keep his twin brothers— the perfect contestants— off the show. Despite Dakota's better judgment, she finds herself drawn to the mysterious outsider. Like her, Finn knows about heartbreak and how a family can fall apart, so she doesn't dare to hope for anything more than a fling. After all, even in the Land of Happy Endings, finding true love is never as easy as it looks on TV.

Why I Read this Book: I am really enjoying the Fool’s Gold series. If it were an actual town, I’d move there! Only Mine is Dakota’s story, the first story of the Hendrix triplets.

What I Liked: I love the overall gist of Dakota and Finn’s story. Even though there were a few rough patches for these characters to get through, the ending totally made me swoon.

I liked Finn’s character. Yeah, there was some angst and overprotectiveness going on but he’s a responsible guy whose dedication stays true until he gets a job done. His parents died when his twin brothers were young so Finn pretty much ended up raising them. Finn just didn’t know how to let go and because of this, he hasn’t been able to live his own life.

I like that Finn didn’t just automatically take Dakota’s “news” with full acceptance. He got mad about the situation, justifiable so, and questioned her motives. This made the story more realistic and believable.

What I Didn’t Like: My biggest problem with the book was that the main story line involving Dakota was too predictable. When I was 31% into Only Mine, I pretty much knew that 3 things were going to happen by the end of the book – and I was right on all 3 accounts. If you want to know which 3 things I’m referring to, click on the SPOILERS button. (I don’t recommend you read the SPOILERS if you haven’t already read the book. They are indeed SPOILERS!)

*SPOILERS* (1) Dakota was going to get pregnant, (2) Finn was going to move to Fool’s Gold and (3) Finn was going to buy the local airplane business. *ENDS OF SPOILERS*

The game show element wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be so it turned out not to be too much of a focal point for me when I was reading Only Mine. Speaking of the game show, while I enjoyed reading the parts about game show contestants Stephen and Aurelia for the most part, I felt like their I Love You’s came too soon. It felt too rushed for these characters.

One of my biggest book pet peeves happened in Only Mine: Dakota had unprotected sex with a man she barely knew. Let’s just forget about the possibility of pregnancy for a moment here; what about STD’s people?!! And the subject matter doesn’t come up until Finn mentions it 2 days later. They should know better. Tsk tsk.

Overall Impression: Even though it was a bit predictable, I still enjoyed reading Only Mine. I love a good swoon-worthy romance novel and Only Mine fit the bill. I can’t wait to read the rest of this series, especially about the other two Hendrix triplets.

 

The Book Vixen’s Rating: