Review: Under the Surface

Under the Surface by Anne Calhoun
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I don't hate this book, but I also don't love it.

I like the idea of the book. Putting an undercover cop in the bar to protect the owner. They have a crazy strong attraction but Chad/Matt didn't want to act on it because he was lying about who he really was. Okay so points to Matt. Except one night he gives in because she was going to go elsewhere and the place gets shot at and Eve finds out that Chad/Matt has been lying to her the whole time and then they move on from there... The idea is fantastic and dramatic. I like it.

But my problem with this is Eve. There is a strong attraction between the two characters and that's great. She came on to him, he kinda flirted back but said he wanted things to go slow. So what does Eve do? She throws herself at him repeatedly. And then after a week of throwing her self at him and him turning her down nicely saying he wants to take things slow, she threatens to sleep with someone else... okkaaay... That to me is desperate and pathetic. I understand that she is supposed to be this bad ass, independent, knows what she wants and will do whatever it takes to get it bar owner... But manipulating someone into sleeping with you? Just not cool.

Another thing that bothered me about her was when she found out that Chad wasn't really a bar owner but he was really Matt the detective, she didn't stay mad long. Not even for 24 hours. I know that if someone lied to me, I sure as hell wouldn't get over it that quickly. But no she's basically talks him into sleeping with her for real the next morning and then she's no longer anger. Don't get me wrong, I love strong female characters, but to me this isn't strong. I don't know what it is exactly but I know that I would never act the way she did.

I got to about halfway and I almost stopped reading it. I really could not stand Eve and the last 2 books I've read I didn't like the FMC so I just didn't want to read another one. But I forced myself to go on and it actually got better. The second half of the book is more about them dealing with Lyle the drug dealer and that part was interesting to me. So I am glad that I finished it. I really liked the author's writing. I liked the flow of the story. I just wish Eve wasn't so pushy. If it wasn't for her, I would have loved this book.

View all my reviews