Book Review: Honeymoon for One

Book Review:  Honeymoon for One
Author:  Chris Keniston
Rating:  Five stars 









Honeymoon for One is the love story of Michelle Bradford and Lloyd Kirkland McEntire, Jr.

Michelle Bradford had to grow up fast.  When both her parents were killed in a car accident, she was left alone to raise her ten year old sister.  Michelle sheltered the responsibility and chucked the life and dreams she had for herself to be a responsible role model for her sister.  The one dream she didn’t abandon was the “happily ever after” complete with a husband, house and babies.  Those dreams go awry when three days before her wedding, her fiancée and her best friend announce they are in love and leaving for Las Vegas to get married.  When word gets out that Michelle has been jilted, her next door neighbor and her co-worker insist that she go on the honeymoon cruise anyway, to get distance from the situation and have a little fun.

Lloyd Kirkland McEntire, Jr likes to live hard and play hard.  He’s a shrewd businessman who comes in and shakes up companies on the brink of disaster and turns them around, which sometimes involves closing the business or eliminating departments within the business.  When he’s done with his dirty work, he lets loose and plays hard by travelling the world. 

On her honeymoon cruise, Michelle has left the old Michelle behind in her hometown.  Where at home she wears dresses well below the knee and attends PTA meetings, on this cruise she’s a fun-loving, risk taking, fly by the seat of your pants having carefree person.  She’s donned the long dresses for clothing that reveal a little skin.  Gotten rid of the one piece bathing suit for a more dangerous bikini that leaves little to the imagination.  She’s also enjoying a few too many alcoholic beverages which makes her let her hair down.

The responsible Michelle would never gamble.  But this new Michelle (filled with three or four BBC’s—Baileys Banana Colada’s)—takes a chance at the craps table.  There she meets Kirk.  With his jet black hair and Mediterranean blue eyes, he takes her on one adventure after another on their ten day cruise.  Although a shipboard affair is not what she planned, knowing she’ll never see him again gives her something to hold on to when she goes home and settles back in to her boring existence.

To him she was “Micki.”  Adventurous, fun loving, play hard daredevil.  The kind of woman he’s used to finding on cruises, having a liaison with and forgetting as soon as the ship docks.  He doesn’t want the complicated cliché’ of wife, white picket fence, two point five children and nine to five.  It’s boring.  And he is all about living life to the fullest.

To her he was “Kirk.”  A sexy, adventurous stranger who made her adventurous as well.  With him she went parasailing, climbed rock walls and lived a carefree existence.  An existence she thought would never follow her home to Bluffview. 

When they meet in her tiny town of Bluffview, it changes both of their lives completely.

This story was pretty predictable.  Several things happened that I saw coming from the proverbial “mile away.”  All in all, they worked for this story.  All the characters were well developed and relatable.  I felt a kindred spirit in Michelle.  She reminded me of me. 

This was a very quick read had good story pacing and kept my interest.  I didn’t want to put it down.  I read it on the train to and from work, during my lunch hour and finished it the same evening.  I love stories that pull me in and make me want to finish them.  I almost wished this was a little longer.  This was well written.  I didn’t find any errors, typographical or grammatical. 

If you are a fan of romance, which I am; this is the book for you.  Highly recommended.  Five stars. 

Read my review on Amazon.com:  http://www.amazon.com/review/RCP6P8SI3TH1O/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00DNEH2L0&linkCode=&nodeID=&tag=