What in the world happened with this series? I loved, loved, loved, the first two books. I was so happy and excited to buy this new one. And then I started it and wow. I went from crazy happy to just um okay this is not really that great but maybe it picks up, to just straight up hate reading it to say that I finished it. My overall feeling was one of straight up disappointment.

We have a hero, Jake Sorenson long time readers know as the hot guy who helps out the sad and newly women in Black Dog Bay with getting over their exes by getting under him, and heroine, Brighton Smith.

Brighton's perfect world comes crashing down when her fiancee demands the engagement ring back after a car ride to work (for that alone I would have punched the guy in the face) and after a blast from her past calls her, decides to go to Black Dog Bay to visit her old friend from college. When Brighton's ex calls her to let her know that he just got married to a woman he just met, she gets drunk and gets even by running off to get married to Jake Sorenson.

So the plot is pretty much Brighton doing everything she can to get past Jake's walls with her constantly saying how she just plans on staying married to him for two weeks (how long her vacation time is) with the understanding that they will divorce and or get an annulment. Only problem is, is that Brighton finds herself carrying for Jake and falling for him while having wild passionate sex (that by the way we never get to read about, we either get the before or after no actual sex scenes) and we have Jake with all of the personality of beige wallpaper so one wonders what the heck did Brighton see in him.

I don't know. I get that most contemporary romances are going to just have hero heroine together in the end with some obstacles thrown in along the way. But seriously, this book from beginning to end makes no sense. It was super frustrating.

Brighton we know came from an unstable childhood because her aging hippie mother didn't get money and now that Brighton is older, she gave up her dream to be a jeweler designer to become an actuary. Instead of Brighton embracing the time off that she in Black Dog Bay by working with Lila (New Uses for Old Boyfriends) she keeps going on and on about things being temporary and just acting put upon the whole time. She drove me crazy. You marry a guy who you know for not even 24 hours, you can't just sit and moan about how he is not opening up to you. We also don't see any changes with regards to Brighton and her mom at all. Instead it looks like she will keep bailing her out for the rest of her life.

Jake had an interesting backstory and honestly I think that Beth Kendrick would have been better served to make him the sole focus of this book. Why in the world was this book told from Brighton's point of view? Readers know Jake and it would have been awesome to get to know what made him tick. Instead we had a whole cloak and dagger thing going on with regards to his past (and which makes everyone around him seem like the most self interested people ever) and I found myself getting more intrigued by him. He still has the personality of beige wallpaper when he has interactions with Brighton, but I like to think based on his past there was a flashy lavender stripe in the wallpaper barely visible unless you stood up close. What I thought made Jake suck more is his open acknowledgement of why he let someone from his past lead him around by his nose. It was not cute or attractive. I can see why he was referred to as John Gatsby from The Great Gatsby at that point.



The secondary characters were just bad in this one. I mean I loved Lila and Malcolm in New Uses for Old Boyfriends and still loved them here, but Lila feels paper thin and not even like the same woman she was in book #2. We get a reappearance by Summer (Cure for the Common Breakup) and man oh man I hated her in this one. She acted like a jerky valley girl. We also get some new characters introduced and can I just say they were pretty terrible.

The writing is the same from the previous two books. I think just the dull characters and lack of progression within the book is what tripped me up. I got tired of reading about how hot Jake was or the Jake Sorenson smolder. Reading about how they both liked to drink orange Gatorade (disgusting) after having sex was not a cute little tidbit I had to keep reading over and over again. In fact the whole book felt repetitive. There is no real obstacles here except emotional ones.

The ending will make some readers go awww. It did not make me go awww. ( )

Sometimes it's the little things that send you, or someone else, right over the edge. And sometimes that edge is one you end up not wanting to climb back up onto, not that you realize it to start with. Beth Kendrick's third novel in the Black Dog Bay series, Put a Ring on It, opens with just such an edge.

Brighton's fiance has asked for the engagement ring back. For him, their argument about the efficiency of the zipper merge during their morning commute was the last straw. Feigning sickness to leave work once she realizes that Colin isn't going to call and repair things between them, Brighton, a buttoned up insurance actuary who carefully weighs the pros and cons of everything, calls an old friend and invites herself to stay. What she doesn't know is that her old friend has just relocated to Black Dog Bay, Delaware, the break-up and broken hearts capital of the country. Once there, Brighton acts impulsively and also rediscovers her creative side through her love for jewelry design. First, she meets Jake Sorensen, who would be the perfect rebound relationship. He'd be perfect, except they actually end up married after former fiance Colin calls Brighton and tells her that he's married a woman he just met. Her spontaneous revenge marriage to Jake is just tit for tat. And in her case, Jake knows the score. They'll stay married for two weeks to allow Brighton to cut loose in ways she never dreamed (not too loose though as two weeks is all the vacation time she has from work). But what if the life she's living is the one she wants to keep? And what if the cons she uncharacteristically didn't take time to consider could derail this happiness?

Although this novel is the third in the series, it stands alone just fine. Characters from previous books do make appearances but not knowing their back stories is no detriment to the reader. Brighton has allowed fear to dictate who she's become in life. She's too financially scared to do what she loves and feed her creative side and so she subsumes all of that to the boring and measured practicality of being an actuary. Going to Black Dog Bay and acting so incredibly out of character allows her to reconnect with the person she's hidden inside herself for so long. Learning who she wants to be and how she wants to live her life brings her happiness as well as insecurity and it is in the acceptance and embracing of that insecurity that she really starts to live. Jake is drawn as a sexy, stoic character whose past history, while not entirely secret, is not mentioned until it threatens the budding relationship he and Brighton are building. It turns out that the pasts that shaped both of them have a very similar base, even if they've reacted to that base in wildly different ways.

As in the previous books in the series, Kendrick has written a frothy, cute romantic story that just happens to have a woman who is finally being empowered to be who she wants to be, one who finds happiness and success and love because she is determined to follow her own heart. This is light and fun escape reading with an ending that won't disappoint.

I have been reading some pretty heavy books lately, so I wanted to give myself a break to enjoy something lighthearted, romantic and simple. Put A Ring On It by Beth Kendrick totally fills that request.

The first thing that reeled me in was the adorable cover. Who can resist a sweet little fur-baby face?? As I was standing there perusing the shelves I noticed that practically all of the author's books have covers that make you want to toss them your cart and take them home with you. Being a total cover-snob, this is a powerful thing!

After I got the book home, I realized that it was actually part of a series called Black Dog Bay. I believe it is the third book. Apparently though, the books can be read individually as I did not feel that I was missing out on anything by not reading the two prior books.

The story is set in a picturesque resort town called Black Dog Bay, and is the perfect location for this entertaining beach read. The main character is Brighton Smith, who has a basically mundane insurance job and suddenly finds herself jilted by a fiance who calls to tell her he just married someone else! So she heads out to Black Dog Bay to visit a friend and get away from her sudden predicament. And this is where the story pretty much begins.

I really enjoyed this sweet, romantic comedy. It is perfect for those times when you just need something that is uncomplicated, easy to read, and gives you a reason to smile. I will definitely be looking for more by Beth Kendrick. I find her writing to be charming, and her characters are all engaging and fun. ( )

Great fun! The characters are interesting and easy to care about. A really nice love story. Makes you want to read more of the author's books! ( )

This review was originally posted on Bookish Things & MoreThe Awesome of Put a Ring on It
( )