ARC Review: All I Want Is You by Sherrill Bodine

When I first picked up this book I was really excited, some of my favorite storylines are those that are enemies to lovers. There is always so much chemistry and sparks occurring between the characters. I just love it. With this book I honestly don't know why I kept reading. Actually I do know why, I was curious to see what was going to happen with the hero and heroine when they finally got together. I really shouldn't have wasted my time because it wasn't worth it. This book was just so lackluster. The chemistry between Conner and Venus was just felt flat and lacking the sparks that I love.

From the beginning I had issues with the storyline. It just seemed to be a bit all over the place and a lot of characters and events just seem to pop up out of nowhere that seem to mess with the flow of the story. I found myself confused by it all more than once. There was just too many characters and interloping storylines going on that just seemed to detract from the Conner and Venus' story. These two are supposed to be the main focus, but I felt like their story was just a side note to the mystery that is going on in the book and the only reason I kept reading this book was to see their relationship progress.

I really needn't have bothered finishing because there just wasn't any sizzle with them. Once they got together that was it, nothing really special happens or there wasn't really much that happened beforehand. They just go from hating each other to instantly in love and it just make no sense to me. It wasn't believable at all. I would have love to see more flirting between them before they jumped into bed with each other. I like reading romances to experience the romance with the characters and I just didn't feel any with Venus and Conner. Their relationship just didn't seem like it had a natural progression. The author constantly tells us how much they both hate each other and then all of a sudden all that hate and resentment is gone? Just didn't make sense to me.

I also hate that somehow everything is wrapped up in a pretty little bow. Somehow all of the problems that occurred in the book are magically fixed and everyone gets a HEA. How does that happen? That isn't realistic at all. It just felt so phony.

I think one of my main issues is I was unable to connect with the heroine Venus. I just did not like her. She is constantly moaning about how much she hates Connor for what he did to her father, yet it's okay to attempt to seduce him to get information. Also, every time something happens she starts to cry. I have never read a book where the heroine cries so much. It seemed like every other page she was crying about something. It was highly annoying.

As for Connor, I found that I really did enjoy him and I loved when we were able to see things through his point of view. I love that he was so protective of Venus and is even willing to sleep in his car in order to be there in case something were to happen. He just wants her to be safe. He may have been a bit stubborn and set in his ways, but he is willing to do anything to protect the ones he loves and cares about.

All in all, I didn't completely hate this book but I definitely did not love it. I might be a bit hesitant to pick up something from this author in the future. This book just had a few too many misses for me to willing pick up another from this author.

**ARC copy provided by NetGalley**

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