Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins

I'm a big sucker for books with adorable dogs on the cover and Kristan Higgin's latest book Just One Of The Guys is no exception. Kristan made it to my auto-buy list with her previous books; Catch Of The Day and Fools Rush In (click on the titles to see the gorgeous puppies). I pre-ordered this from Amazon but forgot all about it. When I got the shipping notice I couldn't remember what I ordered and had to go find out what the book was again. Here's the cover blurb:

Being one of the guys isn’t all it’s cracked up to be…

So when journalist Chastity O’Neill returns to her hometown, she decides it’s time to start working on some of those feminine wiles. Two tiny problems: #1 — she’s five-foot-eleven of rock-solid girl power, and #2 — she’s cursed with four alpha male older brothers.

While doing a story on local heroes, she meets a hunky doctor, and things start to look up. Now there’s only one problem: Trevor Meade, her first love and the one man she’s never quite gotten over — although he seems to have gotten over her just fine.

Yet the more time she spends with Dr. Perfect, the better Trevor looks.But even with the in-your-face competition, the irresistible Trevor just can’t seem to see Chastity as anything more than just one of the guys…

Just One Of The Guys wasn't as good for me as Kristan's previous books. The main reason was that Chastity and Trevor don't get together until (swear to God) the last page of the book! Okay, not counting the epilogue. Seriously? I also didn't think there was quite enough quality interaction between the two to make their love believable. For the first time I was actually wishing for the book to have been written in third person so I could find out what the hell was going on in Trevor's mind. I still don't understand his motivations. But at $4.99 this book was definitely not a waste of time or money. Charity is such a cool character and it's nice to have a tomboy once in a while who isn't ashamed to be strong and athletic. But if you want to start somewhere else I highly recommend Catch Of The Day and Fools Rush In.

UPDATE: Catch of the Day just won the RITA award for Best Contemporary Romance tonight at the 2008 RWA Conference. Now you have no excuse not to buy it. Thanks to on the spot bloggers at Smart Bitches and Dear Author for the live results.