Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Review - Under Her Skin




Title: Under Her Skin
Author: Susan Mallery
Publishing Date: May 2009
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: B-
Sensuality: Warm

Under Her Skin is the first book in Susan Mallery's Titan Series. Lexi Titan owns her own day successful day spa. Unfortunately for her, the lender of her loan is calling it in and she has three weeks to come up with two million dollars. In walks Cruz Rodriguez with a proposition that will benefit both of them. They both agree to to a fake engagement for the next six months. He will give Lexi the two million she needs and she will introduce him to all her family connections that will give Cruz the 'in' he needs into high society. Cruz and Lexi have a past history and both are determined to guard their hearts, as this is only a business deal. Bet you can't guess where this leads!

Here is another classic case of me getting my hopes up for one thing and the book delivering something different. I was expecting more romance, and while it was there, sometimes Lexi and Cruz's relationship felt overshadowed by Lexi's problems with her family. Much of the plot of this book revolved more around Lexi's interaction with her sisters and her mysterious lender, than with Cruz.

Lexi quite clearly has daddy issues. Jed Titan is the type of man who is incapable of showing affection or love to anyone. Lexi all her life has been desperately trying to win his love, by being a successful business woman. When she starts falling in love with Cruz she panics. This is because she sees he shares similar qualities with her father. Knowing she has never had her fathers love, she believes she won't ever have Cruz's either. So there is a lot of denial between Cruz and Lexi, which brings a lot of angst to the table. However, I felt there was something missing. Maybe it was that the romance with Cruz felt more secondary in comparison Lexi's problems with her family and her spa.

The relationship between Lexi and her sisters Sky and Izzy is complex. Lexi and Skye are in direct competition for the inheritance, because Jed won't choose who will get it. He wants them to constantly be proving they deserve it. Really, Jed is a complete ass in this book. I liked the interaction between Lexi and her sisters. Despite their father, they do get along for the most part.

Susan Mallery has back to back books coming out from this series. In June Skye's story Lip Service will be released and then Izzy's story, Straight from the Hip in July.

Here is what others had to say:

The Pink Heart Society
Monkey Bear Reviews

2 comments:

nath said...

Hi there :D

Just reviewed this one as well :) So, what did you think of the story? Did you like it or not? I thought it was meh, could have been better.

I'm going to skip Skye's storyline, but I'm looking forward to Izzy's! :)

Jill D. said...

Yeah, I thought the story could have been better too. I hated that the author focused so much on the other brother and the problems he was causing the family. I would have liked to have seen more focus on Crus and Lexi's relationship. They hardly had anytime together. That bugged me.