REVIEW: Only His by Susan Mallery

Title: Only His
Series: Fool’s Gold, #6
Author: Susan Mallery
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: NetGalley
Published: September 27, 2011 by HQN Books

Wedding bells are ringing in Fool's Gold, but not for Nevada Hendrix. Her triplet sisters are engaged, and even her mother has a more active love life than she does. Determined to make a fresh start, she applies for her dream job, only to discover that her new boss is her first love. Maybe she could overlook the fact that they've seen each other naked, but she'll never forget the way he broke her heart.

Tucker Janack agrees to Nevada's "business only" ground rules. After all, love is a trap that the construction millionaire has avoided his whole life. But when great business partners turn out to be so much more, every rule gets broken. Will either of them be willing to try again…or will their past get in the way?

Why I Read this Book: I can’t help myself, I enjoy a good reliable contemporary romance novel and that’s what Susan Mallery delivers with her Fool’s Gold series.

What I Liked: I love romance stories where the hero and heroine have had a prior relationship that didn’t exactly work out but they get a second chance at love. I also really like it when either one or both of them are adamant about not trying to rekindle that flame because I’m the kind of reader who likes tension. It doesn’t have to be fierce tension or uncomfortable tension; just enough that will make one or both characters squirm a little bit. And it’s even better when someone from their past, a person who was the third party in their love triangle, comes back into the picture.

As annoying as Caterina’s character was, she was written so well. I could hear her accent when I read her dialogue. I could sense her eccentricity and exuberance. She was extremely arrogant yet it didn’t come off in a brash way.

OMG!! – we finally get to find out about Jo’s mysterious past! And it was definitely not what I had expected, at all. And she has a bit of a love interest of her own in Only His. Speaking of secondary characters and their love interests (which by the way do not take away from the main characters’ story arc at all), we get more to Denise’s (the triplets’ mother) story arc. There was a bit of drama going on it but it quickly gets resolved.

I love how the author introduces new secondary characters in each book. The hero and heroine for each Fool’s Gold novel don’t completely steal the show so the reader is able to ‘get to know’ these new characters.

One of my favorite funny quotes:

“I want you to make it go away. All of it. Ms. Stoicasescu, her assistant and the vagina.”

What I Didn’t Like: The love interest in Jo’s life falls in love with her too quickly. He hasn’t even known Jo that long to declare his love for her. Especially so quickly after their little ‘tiff’. Though I did love his approach of going after what he wants with a strong determination. He wasn’t go to let Jo slip through his fingers without a fight.

Overall Impression: Only His is one of my favorite Fool’s Gold novels to date (another being the first Fool’s Gold novel Chasing Perfect). Only His was definitely my favorite of the triplets’ books. It had exactly what I was looking for as far as a hero and heroine go and I got updates on two characters I’ve been anxiously waiting for. It excites me to know that the author plans to continue on with the Fool’s Gold series.

The Book Vixen’s Rating: