The Right Kind of Guy by Kerri-Leigh Grady Published by Entangled Publishing, LLC (Lovestruck), Entangled Publishing: Lovestruck on October 17th 2016
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Romance novelist Kelsey Spencer doesn’t believe in love, and she's tired of faking her way through happily ever afters. Determined to change things up, she heads to the Las Vegas Romance Lovers Convention. But somewhere between half-naked cover models and hot Navy SEALs, Kelsey’s plans derail...
Especially once she meets über-fan Jasmine Grant...and Jasmine’s über-hot alphahole brother, Aaron.
Buttoned-up Aaron Grant never thought he’d find himself at a romance convention, but here he is, trying to convince his impulsive sister not to marry a beefcake cover model. His only hope is to enlist the aid of the cynical (and sexy) romance writer his sister worships.
After a sweltering jaunt around Vegas, some strange conference hijinks, and one outrageous proposal, Kelsey and Aaron are left questioning everything they know about romance and love...and if falling in love might just be worth the gamble.
‘The Right Kind of Guy’ is an amusing parody of the entire romance genre, right down to the conventions, the crazed reader, a very jaded author who doesn’t believe what she does any longer and an arse of a player who apparently has no time for commitment with non-stop work.
I enjoyed it somewhat of course, given the very self-referential matter of the very kind of book it parodies, yet thought that it succumbed to the very cliches of instant love, a hot, instant connection and the eventual HEA that it gently mocked. In the end, Kerri-Leigh Grady acknowledges the problems inherent in writing this genre while fulfilling the impossible demands of the contemporary reader, yet manages to negotiate a ‘middling’ road that says both the paths of quiet love as well as explosive first connections work.
Well, maybe. I’m not entirely convinced personally by its message-if there’s even one to be had-but its cleverness can’t be denied.