The Book Gourmet

Gina Vitagliano is dead and Max Bhagat is full of regrets...But as he flies to Germany to recover the body of the only woman he's ever truly loved and bring her home, it's not Gina underneath the sheet in the morgue. The real Gina's been kidnapped, alongside one of her friends, to lure Grady Morant a.k.a. Jones to Indonesia.

Retribution for her death forgotten, the job that was his life forgotten, regrets forgotten, Max only has one goal—get to Gina and hope he's not too late.


What a disappointment this conclusion in the Gina/Max love story was. I was hoping for more. I was expecting more, and instead got a flashback filled first half of the book (flashbacks that detailed almost the minutiae of Max and Gina's failed relationship a year and a half ago, which was pointless, because we all knew that the asshole that Max turned into had pushed her away—no news there). And once the flashbacks were over, and Max and Gina were finally reunited, what does the girl (not woman, because if she was a woman she'd make him grovel, I know I would) do? She readily forgives him because he thought she was dead and he had tears in his eyes when he told her.
Sheesh! Talk about a doormat. The man treated her like crap, used her for sex, shut her out of his life and his emotions (although she did give up too easily, if you ask me), and she just forgives him because she loves him.

Yes, forgiveness was a given in this case (I wanted her to forgive him), but she gave in too easily in my opinion, swayed by his charm, his telling her what he truly felt for her, and those pesky tears.
The space given to the flashbacks could've been spent telling the story in the present, to solve the conflict more satisfyingly (with Max groveling), and make the suspense a little more gripping. As it was, the whole kidnapping plot was solved too easily, and the stand-off looked to be a piece of cake as well.

I didn't really care about the secondary romance, except for the fact it served to bring Max and Gina together and solve their (pointless) conflict...And Jules, as always, saved the day.