Review: A Valentine Proposal

A Valentine Proposal by Viv Royce
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed with Viv Royce's "A Valentine Proposal." I had a tough time connecting with the main characters, Cleo and Mark, as well as believing in their feelings for each other. My biggest problem was the speed with which their relationship developed. Mark and Cleo met only a handful of times before they were supposedly "in love" with each other, and I just didn't find it to be believable based on the content of their interactions.

It might have been easier for me to believe in Mark and Cleo's love for each other if the story had been a bit longer, allowing more of a chance for character and relationship development. I liked Cleo when she was briefly introduced in the previous book in this series, but she seemed different to me here. I thought she would be fun and kind of quirky, but instead she turned out to be very insecure and weighed down with self-esteem issues due to a long-standing conflict with her parents. Mark came across as a rich, handsome workaholic who didn't have much of a life outside of his job. He started to develop more of a personality towards the end of the story, but some of the choices he made seemed like they came out of left field based on the little I knew about him. Also, for the first half of the book Mark was so preoccupied with his sister Tamela's love life that it was difficult to see his interest in Cleo at all.

Speaking of Tamela's situation, I can completely understand why Mark did not want his sister to be hurt, but as far as there being nothing he or his parents could do about her relationship with James, I don't think that's necessarily true. If James was really only after Tamela's money, why couldn't their parents cut her off or insist on a pre-nup if Tamela was determined to go through with the wedding? I think James would show his true colors and lose interest in marrying Tamela very quickly if he knew that he would no longer be able to access her funds. In any event, I was slightly annoyed that this subplot wasn't wrapped up before the end of the story, but perhaps the author plans to bring Tamela back as a character in a future book and address it there.

Overall, I didn't completely dislike this book, but I really can't recommend it. That said, I did enjoy the first book in this series ("A Family by Christmas"), so I will plan to give book #3 a try and hope for better results.

*ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

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