Love At First Sight by Lori Wilde Series: , Texas #1
Published by Harper Collins
Publication Date: May 28, 2013
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 389
Source: Own
Format: eBook
Goodreads
Buy Online: Amazon ♥ B&N ♥ Kobo
In the first in a dazzling new series, Lori Wilde welcomes us to Cupid, Texas, where every wish for love comes true . . .
“When it hits, you just know . . .”
Natalie McCleary couldn’t believe her eyes—a lean-muscled, darkly tanned, nearly naked man stood in her path … and then it hit her: love. Everyone always told her it would hit like a thunderbolt, and she never believed them. But now she knew: practical, sensible Natalie was head over heels in love—with a stranger.
But ex-Navy SEAL Dade Vega wasn’t about to be a stranger for long. He’d ridden into Cupid on his motorcycle, vowing to keep a promise he’d made to a military buddy. But a single glimpse of Natalie—soaking wet and unexpectedly tempting—changed his life forever.
But how can he offer her his love, when he can’t even promise to stay in one place for longer than a week?
Love at First Sight is the first of four books in the Cupid, Texas series. Cupid is a small Texan town so named in honor of a formation in the nearby caverns shaped like Cupid and credited with lots of love matches, both far and near. Natalie McCleary’s great-grandmother started the tradition of writing a letter to Cupid and now the females in her family volunteer to answer the hundreds of letters written to Cupid.
Natalie believes in love at first sight but has never experienced it and has given up on falling in love until the day she sets eyes on Dade Vega. Dade is a Harley-riding, dark and brooding ex-Navy SEAL who had a horrible childhood and does not trust easily, does not believe in entanglements and is not interested in putting down roots. Dade is in Cupid in response to an SOS his friend, Red sent to him when he sees Natalie and falls for her. Natalie and Dade’s close proximity allows them to figure out their feeling for each other and also the mystery of Red’s disappearance. At the point where they both decide to make a go of their relationship, Dade vanishes.
I am a fan of Lori Wilde and have enjoyed many of her previous books. I absolutely LOVED the premise upon which this series is based, so much that I purchased the entire series at a go. I loved reading about how letters to Cupid came about and the history of Natalie’s family. I loved seeing Natalie set eyes in Dade for the first time and tumble into love with him (it is a story about love at first sight, after all) and I settled in for an interesting read. Unfortunately, I could not connect with the characters as I hoped to.
The romance between Natalie and Dade felt very superficial and was missing the flash and bang I expected for a story about love at first sight. For someone who had been on the look-out for her great love, Natalie was quite resistant when she found him. In Dade’s case, his switch from being a loner and keeping everything close to his chest to deciding to confide in Natalie was not quite smooth. There was no pivotal point at which Natalie and Dade moved from denying their feelings for each other to taking their relationship to the next level.
Too much information was provided on the other characters, taking the focus off the romance between Natalie and Dade and they got lost in the mass of information. Their investigation into Red’s disappearance was quite amateurish (especially for a SEAL) and the discovery of the counterfeit ID ring came about by chance.
I am quite disappointed because I really wanted to love this book, but could remember very little about the story days after I finished it. I want to believe that these issues are due to the need to set up the entire series in the first book and I hope that the subsequent books will be better than this one.
SERIES ORDER
BUY ONLINE
#0.5 One True Love: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
#2 All Out Of Love: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
#3 Somebody To Love: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
#4 Love With A Perfect Cowboy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
About Lori Wilde
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Lori Wilde has sold seventy-eight works of fiction to four major New York Publishing houses.
Her first NYT bestseller, the third book in her Twilight, Texas series, The First Love Cookie Club has been optioned for a television movie. The town of Granbury, Texas, upon which her fictional town of Twilight, Texas is loosely based, honors Lori with an annual Twilight, Texas weekend each Christmas.
A popular writing instructor, Lori is a two time RITA finalist and has four times been nominated for Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award. She's won the Colorado Award of Excellence, the Wisconsin Write Touch Award, The Golden Quill, the Lories, and The More than Magic.
Leave a Reply