3 Stars ☆ Emma Hart ☆ Casanova

Casanova

by

Emma Hart

Eight years ago Lani left her hometown in Florida because her best friend hurt her irrevocably. Today she is a well known freelance journalist with both serious and gossip articles under her belt. She is back in town for her Grandmother's funeral and she'll be damned if she went out of her way to meet with Brett Walker, bad boy extraordinaire, man-ho, and heir to the Walker fortune. When she has a chance run-in with him she knows the boy she used to love is gone. Instead there is a snarky scapegrace who puts everything into making her furious. Unfortunately she has to write an article about Brett that is supposed to make him look in a favorable light.

When his father and grandfather tell him to either clean up his act or lose his part of the inheritance Brett doesn't have a choice to work with the woman who used to be his best friend. Who hurt him so badly when she left without saying a word. Today he gets a kick out of making her mad and it doesn't hurt that she has grown into a beautiful woman with plenty of backbone and snark. He is determined to get her into his bed but life, as usual, has different ideas. The more he spends time with her the more he realizes that he doesn't want her to leave again. And Lani? She starts seeing the man behind the facade. But can she forgive him what he did eight years ago?

I was intrigued by the blurb and it was refreshing to see an actually clothed man on the cover instead a naked chest. Not that I'm complaining about those but when every book you've read in the past has those you notice the ones who take a different approach. But I digress. 

Casanova had everything that should have been an amazing book. Unfortunately it didn't live up to the expectations. Yes, I did enjoy parts of it. For one there is the writing, which I found to be really good. The snark in it drew me in and I had a couple of laugh out loud moments. Emma Hart's writing style definitely resonates with me. 

However. The characters in this book, and I mean pretty much all of them, acted as if they were still teenagers. Even the 80+ year old aunt. 

Can you imagine holding on to a grudge and being bitter for 8 years? For something a boy you were in love with said when he was 17, 18 years old? I can't. Well, Lani did and the weird thing, the one thing that drove me bonkers that she told the hero's sister but not the one person who could make it right. the first 65% of the book Lani acted mostly bitchy and bitter and while I did admire her backbone I just didn't like her approach of the actual issue. 

Brett also acted like a loon for the first half of the book. He didn't leave out a single occasion to bait Lani and make her mad. While he was childish too, though, I still liked him as a person. He had a sweet side to him that came through the farther you got into the story but the mischievous guy was still there. 

When all the secrets came to light I did a doubletake. I couldn't believe that this was what all the hoopla was about. A couple of real conversations would have fixed the issues. I also couldn't believe how Lani could be mad at Brett and the things he said and did for eight years. She could have confronted him - instead she ran. Yes, it wasn't a nice thing he did but it wasn't something a conversation couldn't have fixed. And THE THING they hinted at throughout the book? I was preparing for something juicy but I felt let down. 

Please take my review with a grain of salt - there are people who loved this book and I totally get what they are saying. 

As I said, I did like this author's writing and I am going to try other books by her. I also loved some aspects of this one and when Brett was redeemed he was really lovable. Lani also grew on me at the end of the story but unfortunately not enough. However, I liked this book enough to give the next one in this series a chance!