by Kate Clayborn
Layla, a doctor who has been divorced for a couple of years, accepts an invitation to the Paris wedding of her young ex-sister-in-law who was like a little sister to her. Paris is important to her whole ex-family, in fact, it is where Jamie and she spent a happy honeymoon. She is reluctant to attend but feels she must because she was close to the whole family once and especially to the sunshiney bride-to-be, Emily, to whom she had promised to remain close, but hasn’t. To make it worse, Jamie is bringing his new serious girlfriend, and though their divorce was “amicable”, and she is “fine,” Layla is concerned this will make her the object of speculation, worry, and “compassion.” Layla does not like to be spotlighted in any way, especially in these circumstances. On the plane over, while tending to an emergency medical situation, she meets a dark, intimidating, and strangely attractive man who looks at her with disapproval and dislike (for some reason.)Despite this, Layla is “electrically” drawn to him. To Layla’s dismay, it turns out he is the best friend of the groom and the Best Man. This is not a grumpy/sunshine romance. Layla is not particularly sunshiney, though she is selfless, good-humored, and kind. Griffin is not just grumpy. He is dark and brooding, surly and rude. Physically he is badly scarred and he obviously bears mental scars as well as physical. He is described throughout the book as a Fae Prince, a smokestack, and a column of smoke. Overused metaphors were sometimes a problem. Soon, trouble looms. After spending a night out on the town with Layla and her maid of honor, Emily starts to have doubts even to the point of possibly calling off the wedding. Michael the Groom is heartbroken and confused. Griffin is on the warpath because nothing must come between his friend and his happiness and he blames Layla. Layla is confused because she knows Emily loves Michael and that she didn’t do or say anything to make Emily change her mind. Can this wedding be saved?
While I liked the concept, the plot, and the care the author took with the development of her characters, her writing style was kind of a drag for me. It seemed very self-conscious like she was tying herself up in knots to express herself a certain way: a way in which clarity, straightforwardness, and effortlessness was something to be avoided. When she fashioned a metaphor or tried to convey a feeling or a thought, I often had to pause to re-read to fully grasp what she was trying to say. And usually what she was trying to convey was not as complex as the way she chose to say it.
Please bear with me while I try to put into words why this good writer’s writing just did not work for me this time. Here’s one example, though it’s throughout the whole book all the time. Layla’s ex-husband has finally arrived in Paris with his fiancée and Layla is explaining to Griffin that she feels like everyone is watching her for signs of jealousy or heartbreak (which she honestly doesn’t feel-it’s complicated) “the Is Layla Looking at Jamie show” as she calls it. Somehow she thinks that her being this distraction is going to prevent them fixing Emily’s doubts about the marriage. Seems like a distraction might be a good thing, but whatever. And why should Layla even care about what these people who are not in her life think? Griffin’s solution is for Layla to “Look at me” instead. We learn Layla response, “Look at you how?” not until the next chapter and while Griffin is recalling this conversation of the night before. During this recollection, we have Griffin’s long contemplation about how he feels like he is Quasimodo in Notre Dame’s Bell Tower. (although he never says that in so many words-just talks all around it very metaphorically and elaborately.)
He pretended it [Notre Dame] was still in ruins. That no one would ever come back to fix it. If that were true, he knew, he wouldn’t be able to stand this close to it; he knew it would be surrounded by barricades and warning signs and probably French policemen. But that little hurdle was no match for his apparently still-skilled pretending brain.
…His eyes drifted to the other bell tower, the one he hadn’t been looking at, and he pictured his wiry, hardy mother, brown-gray braid down her back, scrubbing its walls clean. Shouting out of one of her stone arches a few times a day, asking whether the monster across the way was up yet.
The reader looking for a conclusion to this conversation and Layla’s “Okay” will have to wait 12 pages, Griffin having a long phone conversation with his mother, a lot of internal sturming and dranging, and a trip to Versailles the next day. The upshot is they will not only work together behind the scenes to help and support Michael and Emily, but pretend to be “friends” so Layla does not appear to the others to be lonely. When I read contemporary romance I do not want the kind of book where the plot and character come second to the author trying to impress with her thought provoking prose. I want my thoughts to be about the plot and characters, the drama, suspense, mystery, and humor. This book has all of that, but it’s buried under too many words and too much eloquence. Lots of which didn’t even make sense. In describing Griffin, Layla is thinking how complicated he was: A complicated man. Bold but cautious, demanding but flexible, stubborn but still curious. So of course, I had to stop and try to figure out how “curious” was somehow the opposite of “stubborn.” And for that matter, shouldn’t “stubborn” be paired with “flexible” instead of “demanding?” My reading was brought to a standstill constantly and it became tedious.
I liked the slow burn layered romance and the building of the tension. When they finally do come together it was shattering and very erotic. Griffin has nothing but contempt for Jamie for losing Layla. We feel that their one time love that Layla shrugs off pales in comparison with Griffin’s love for her:
He would say it close enough for her to hear it loud and clear. “There shouldn’t be anything amicable about losing you,” he said. There should be a war, he thought. An army of stone gargoyles, ordered to be alive. All to come get you. All to show you that you should never shrug like that again.
That’s good writing.
And I was also kept turning the pages by the questions and mysteries that arise. What were the circumstances of Jamie and Layla’s divorce? They both seem so nice. Why has Layla ghosted his family? Is Jamie over Layla? Why are Michael and Griffin so close? How did Griffin get burned? How bad is the pain? Can he ever get better? I really came to care about him. Why does Emily have doubts about Michael? What is the secret? What could Michael not tell Emily? Will they end up getting married? would that be a good thing? How can Griffin and Layla be happy when there is so much to overcome? Why do Michael’s parents, especially his father, hate Griffin?
Towards the last part of the book, story elements picked up and it got easier to read. I don’t think it’s because I became accepting of her style, but because the author herself got more concerned with the story and character and forgot about “writing” to within an inch of her life. That was my impression anyway. I also liked some of the choices she made with the characters. I thought that Griffin was going to do the martyr trope thing and leave Layla for her own good. They part temporarily, but it was good.
The writing style was just so frustrating when I really loved almost everything else. 3 stars.
