Review: "Bad Business" by Elise Faber

Bad Business by Elise Faber
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've been struggling to write this review because my feelings about this book are kind of all over the place. I definitely didn't hate it, but there were a number of things that didn't work for me. What did work? Maddie and Rome. I genuinely liked them both and thought they were good together, though I wish there had been more of a foundation established for their relationship. There was a bit too much telling of their history and not enough showing, and as such, their feelings for each other felt rushed to me. Beyond that, I really liked Maddie's bond with Rome's son Jack; she connected with him in a way no one else could and helped him though what had to be a very difficult and confusing time.

The biggest thing I didn't like was Rome's massive guilt complex in relation to his ex-fiancee Carrie, Jack's mother. Usually I can put myself in a character's shoes enough to understand why they might think a certain way, but I just couldn't do it with Rome. Blaming himself and believing that he somehow failed Carrie by not finding out the truth about her accident was completely nonsensical to me. How could he possibly have known what happened when her own family didn't know? He was also missing the bigger picture, which was that Carrie had kept his son from him and he never would have known Jack existed if it weren't for her accident. She was far from perfect, and while she certainly didn't deserve what happened to her, there was no reason for Rome to drive himself crazy with guilt, either. The circumstances were completely out of his control.

Overall, if you've read and enjoyed previous books in this series, you'll probably enjoy this one too. While it's not one of my personal favorites, I remain a fan of Elise Faber and her writing and look forward to whatever she publishes next.

*Review copy provided by the author. All opinions expressed are my own.

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