Book Review: Annie’s 1st Break by Willee Amsden

Getting back into some light easy reading to clear stuff off my Kindle before jumping back into some books that I had gotten over the past year. I’m pretty horrible after the whole PC debacle earlier this year so things get pushed back. Trust me when I say that I’m working hard for the rest of the year.

Annie’s 1st Break (Annie McCauley #1)
by: Willee Amsden

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Look out New York City! Ms. Rayanne “Annie” McCauley from little old Mesa View, Texas has set her sights on being a high fashion model. Despite her humble beginnings in the Mesa View Mobile Home Park, hot tempered Annie thinks she can make it all the way to the cover of Women’s Wear Daily (as long as she follows her own rules).  She may also snag the heart of sexy Tomi Di Ponti, the CEO of Di Ponti Cosmetics and Fashions, but not without a lot of trouble from her arch rival, Brittany Carstairs, another alumnus of the trailer park and a woman who never met a nasty trick she didn’t use. When it looks like things can’t get any worse, along comes Luther Grolsch, handsome, dangerous and possibly the most annoying man Annie ever met. – Goodreads

Its been a while that I’ve felt such indifference for a book or a story before. Annie’s 1st Break is pretty average. It stomps itself a little worse for being a very predictable and generic romantic comedy. Its like watching a Hollywood romantic comedy that lacks the charms and goes through the motions. That might sound harsh but I also have been in a romantic mood of sorts and this should tug at my heart strings. The deal with this one is that nothing exactly is wrong other than that in some ways. For one, the writing is adequate. Its decent enough. There’s nothing flawed with that. There are some parts that felt a little weird as I was reading it but nothing bad.

I can’t say whether its just the story layout and the execution that was the main fault. However, this also lead to the characters being a little ridiculous. For myself, it feels like I say this with every story now that while this one isn’t erotic (which is a nice change in pace), Annie McCauley’s character never makes me want to be behind her actions. She makes some pretty odd choices. While I get the appeal of this handsome rich guy that would break her own set of rules, she is also presented with the bodyguard option who seems to be more caring even if more un-serious. Perhaps its because I’ve never made the conventional choices in my love life that I can’t seem to relate to why she has this fascination over her boss Tomi that I thought wasn’t a great guy to begin with, who has his own character flaws and much of it has to do with the fact that her trust in his values stand on shaky grounds to begin with. But then, her feelings for Tomi is what constantly makes her character on the verge of breaking her rules and turns her into a victim of her situation, essentially mostly created by herself if not facilitated by someone else.

The story is meant to be odd in the screwball comedy and in the beginning, it works well enough but the story falls apart so fast and grows so thin that its hard to give it a better rating or in this case, want to keep reading more of the series.

Goodreads rating: 2.5 (rounded to 2) out of 5