Review: Under Her Skin by Susan Mallery

July 24th, 2010 | 3.5 Stars, Beauty and Fashion, Book Review, Children, Contemporary, Entrepreneur, Estranged, Gambling, M-O, Racing, Revenge, Tycoon, United States of America

I had some issues with Cruz Rodriguez, the hero of the story. First, he’s paying his nasty evil father blackmail money like a little kid with a secret when he’s supposed to be extremely powerful and self-confident now. Second, and more importantly he eschews all contact with his daughter, Kendra. He clearly doesn’t want to be a dad and this is waved away like it’s no big deal because he doesn’t want to be like his evil father. Grr…

This is not a marriage of convenience plot, but it should have been. Lexi Titan needs 2 million dollars to pay off a loan that was called. Cruz offers it to her in exchange for bringing him into the “first families” and elite tier of Texas Society. He wants them to be engaged (with sex – not negotiable – my thoughts: tacky and in bad taste on his part worse when she accepts) and he wants to be introduced to potential trophy wives so that when they ultimately separate he can move on with ease. Ugh.

Lexi and the rest of the Titan girls have daddy issues too. Daddy Titan pits them all against each other because with him it’s all or nothing and no in-between. Where she’s unwilling to trust her sister’s with her problems she easily accepts Cruz, bringing him into her personal and social world at the same time. She's also a strong advocate of Kendra, which is nice.

….Spoilers ahead….

Skye’s story will be like Jane Austen’s Persuasion which will be interesting. I’m looking forward to that too. Izzy’s not so much. Dana’s either – she goes for weak men and while I know her story will be flipped and the hero will be a strong man, I’m not particularly drawn to her.

I really liked the plot that will fuel the remaining novels. The whole thing with Garth, their evil half brother is pretty exciting. I can’t wait to see where that goes. I’ve picked up the next in the series to read just because of it. I can’t wait to see what stunts he pulls next. I’m almost rooting for him – how crazy is that? It would be nice to have it twist and prove he’s a good guy, but that would probably take some work.

On a side note I just love the cover.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Buy: Under Her Skin