Making Him Sweat

Making Him Sweat - Meg  Maguire 3.5 Stars

I loved the first half of this book. It seems like it's going to fall into the "opposites-attract" category with the uptight, wholesome girl meeting a street-tough hotheaded boy that clash and battle until lust overtakes them. Surprisingly, though, it turns out they aren't really opposites. They just have conflicting ideas about what's to become of the boxing gym that Jenna has inherited from her father and is currently being managed by Mercer. It is so refreshing how reasonable, sane and even-tempered Mercer is in the face of losing the only livelihood he's ever known. Jenna is also reasonable, sane and open-minded. Shocking, isn't it?

The author does a great job of building up the romantic/sexual tension between the two. I especially love Mercer's character. He's not too perfect but just perfect enough. Jenna is a little harder to like because she seems like she stepped out of a 1990's category romance. She's opening up a match-making franchise (really? those actually exist in 2013?) and doesn't appear to have a single girlfriend despite being in her early thirties. On the plus side, she's nice to Mercer, has a sense of humor and isn't stubborn so I was rooting for them both.

The book loses a lot of steam after the sexual tension breaks, though. The latter part of the book spends a lot of time focusing on Jenna's match-making business and a "mixer" she's organizing. Trust me.. it's about as exciting to read about as it sounds. There are still some sweet moments buried within those last chapters along with some set-up for the couple who will be in the sequel (that story looks promising) but the momentum that makes the first half so compelling is really gone in the last 50%.