Review: The Harder They Fall by Trish Jensen

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

Food fight, love match, or both? She’s a lovable klutz trying to save her family’s restaurant chain. He’s a stuffed shirt angling to buy it. Who will trip up and fall in love first?
Darcy Welham’s dad is ready to sell his five-star restaurants and retire, but she’s determined to prove she can be trusted to keep the family business going. Darcy’s sure it’s what her mother would have wanted. Only one problem: her life turns into a comedy show when she’s nervous. Pratfalls, spills, slips and fires—all in a day’s misadventures for Darcy. She can’t even wait on tables without dumping food into the customers’ laps. When supper lands on a sensitive area of businessman Michael Davidson’s finely creased trousers, he tries to have his gorgeous but careless waitress fired, only to discover that she’s the person he has to win over if he wants to buy the restaurant chain for his bosses. From that antagonistic start, Darcy and Michael soon find that there’s more to each other than first expected. She’s clumsy because she’s got low self-esteem. She may be a disaster as a waitress, but she’s a genius as a cook, with a talent for creating mouth-watering new dishes. Darcy begins to realize that Michael is not a stuffed shirt at heart—he’s patient, strong and brave, which any man who dates Darcy has to be, because she turns into a Danger Zone every time he makes her heart flutter.
“I laughed so hard I fell off the couch . . . . Don't read this book while eating or drinking, you might snarf something down the wrong way and hurt yourself. . . . on behalf of all fans of screwball comedies, I'd like to thank you Trish. More, please.” – All About Romance

MY TAKE:

I was looking forward to reading this book after reading the first few pages. However, as the story wore on, my enthusiasm left.

The Harder They Fall is about Darcy, a restaurant heiress who is trying to stop the sale of her family's restaurant chain to a corporation. Michael needs the sale to go through for him to get a much-awaited promotion.

The book started out strong. Michael is a well-developed character. He's nice, sweet and very alpha male. Darcy, though, reminded me of Bella Swan. Mostly, it's because she's clumsy, naive and self-pitying. She had her good moments, too, but for the most part, I did not enjoy her character very much.

As for the plot, since it's a romance novel, you already have an inkling of how it's supposed to go. This book had a lot of potential. The romantic scenes were the book's strongest point. However, the book focused more on the seduction and relationship and less on Darcy and Michael's back stories, which were very interesting.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bell Bridge Books for the e-copy.

THE GOOD:

1. The romance scenes are hot.
2. Michael is a strong character.
3. There's a lot of potential.

THE BAD:

1. Darcy can be annoying sometimes.

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

"Brilliant. Who'd have thought tuna, sun-dried tomatoes and pistachio nuts would taste that good together!"

READ IT IF:

1. You like fluffy romance reads.
2. You like cooking.
3. You like hot romance.

RATING:



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