3 out of 4 stars
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Seventeen Days by Linda Griffin is a romance story that revolves around Jenna Scott and Enrique "Rick" Alvarez. Following her divorce from Patrick, Jenna relocates to the house inherited from her grandfather in a small town, San Ignacio, to start afresh. The house is old and in need of repair. On the recommendation of her neighbour, Rosalie, Jenna acquires Rick's painting and carpentry services. Jenna is attracted to Rick, but she develops the I don't know what to say syndrome whenever Rick is around her. However, her connection to Rick's son, Daniel, helps her to move past her fears. Just as Jenna starts to consider a relationship with Rick, a tourist is murdered and rumours that he's the killer spread across the town. Can Jenna move forward with Rick in spite of these rumours?
Picking up this book, I expected a lot of emotions and twists. I also hoped it would be a little bit steamy. My hopes for a steamy story weren't fulfilled but I'm satisfied with the overall content of the book. The story takes place during the Gulf War, which adds another dimension to the story and creates a stronger sense of reality for the reader. The author begins each chapter with a news headline on the war, and she shows how the war would have affected people in that time through her characters.
The author slowly introduces the reader to the romance part of the story as Jenna struggles to find words to express herself around Rick. Rick didn't seem romantically interested in Jenna at that point, so I was caught off guard by Rick making the first move. I enjoyed the interactions between a few of the characters. The dialogue between characters flowed easily and was well written. The author's description of events and emotions was another feature I liked, even though she held back in writing sex scenes in a bid to not make them too graphic.
There wasn't much to dislike about Seventeen Days. However, I felt that some of the characters lacked depth, especially Rick. He was painted as the perfect guy with no flaws and weaknesses. The book is professionally edited and well organized. Grammatical errors were few and far between, and this helped me navigate my way through the book easily.
Overall, I enjoyed reading Seventeen Days. It was engaging enough to prevent me from putting the book down till I finished. The suspense that came with the murder of the tourist made things even more interesting. Seventeen Days would appeal to romance lovers. However, this book isn't for those who like steamy scenes going together with romance stories. Fans of crime fiction will also be interested in this book, as they'll have fun trying to figure out who murdered the tourist from clues the author provided. I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. It was really hard to not give this book maximum stars, but my issues with Rick's character helped me make the decision.
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Seventeen Days
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