Maybe Don't Wanna by Lani Lynn Vale
Series: The Simple Man Series #2
Genre: Romance Suspense
Two broken souls adrift in life
This is more of a contemporary romance, there really wasn't much of suspense element to it at all. It's the second in the Simple Man series though many of these characters have appeared in other books. Now I get that we like to revisit familiar characters but it sometimes seems that ALL of the authors books interconnect in some way AND THERE ARE DOZENS OF THEM. I have neither the time nor money to read her entire back catalogue, and it does feel like a bit of a con when books can't be truly read as a stand alone. However, fair dues, Maybe Don't Wanna did work as a stand alone book.
I read the Hail Raisers series and generally enjoyed them, so I thought I'd give this a go, even though Kinda Don't Care (Simple Man, #1) was a DNF for me. I really wasn't sure what to expect with this, whether I would like or loathe it, thankfully I really enjoyed it.
To be quite frank there isn't a lot of plot to this story, it's pretty much two people who have lost all (most) of their family and feel pretty adrift in life. Parker (despite being mid 40's) still has some hangups over his behaviour as a teenager. There is a tiny bit of a story involving a serial killer, but not much. Yet despite this being more of a series of smoothly linked vignettes, showing Parker and Kayla building their relationship and learning to trust in love, I still found it a really good read.
I loved both Parker and Kayla, they had a wonderful connection and were both very special characters. I believed in them, they made me laugh and they also made me cry. Kayla's personality engaged me immediately and I loved her banter with Janie. Parker is incredibly loyal, caring and protective. It broke my heart how he still hated himself for impossible choices he had to make as barely more than a child.
I read this story in virtually one sitting, reading far past my bedtime and ensuring a very tired start to a Monday morning. However I quite simply did not want to put it down until I'd finished. I almost struggle to justify why it was amazing, in fact the plot was almost random happenings weakly thrown together. What worked so well for me was the depth of feeling this book conveyed. I felt Kayla and Parker's emotions, I was just told they were happy/sad/horny etc.
The plot line involving Kayla's search for the job that fulfilled and inspired her was left hanging, which seemed a little odd. Perhaps this will be addressed in a future book.
There are steamy love scenes in this, though they complement the story and feel a natural part of it. There is a large age gap between the H and h and it also contains a fair amount of profanity, so if either of those issues for you then perhaps it would be better to avoid this. If you're ok with a more adult romance then this is one I'm more than happy to recommend.
Peter Parker Penn.
Unlike the superhero his mother named him after, Parker is no good guy.
In fact, if there’s a picture in the dictionary under anti-hero, it’s his.
Parker’s spent his life trying to get back on the right side of the tracks, but each step he takes forward, he takes two more steps back.
To save one, he hurts others. To make this good, he turns that bad.
For appearances’ sake, he plays the part. He does what people expect him to do—mostly. And at the end of each day, he goes back to his lonely apartment and wishes he was a different person. One who could fix the things he’s broken.
Then Kayla Nash forces her way into his life, and the world as he knows it is irrevocably changed.
Everything he thinks he has right is wrong. And everything he thinks is wrong is oh, so right.
One thing leads to another, and suddenly he’s growing a conscience, and trying to prove to her that he’s as bad as everybody says he is.
Yet she won’t listen.
She’s convinced that she can save him.
Little does she know, Parker isn’t worth saving, and never will be.
I’m a married mother of three. My kids are all under 9, so I can assure you that they are a handful. I’ve been with my paramedic husband now for ten years, and we’ve produced three offspring that are nothing like us. I live in the greatest state in the world, Texas.
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