Review: Claim by Janet Nissenson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Standalone - Splendor #3
Release: November 1, 2016
Length: 393 pages

The final book of the Splendor trilogy – the conclusion, but never the ending, to a love story for the ages

All of luxury hotel heir Ian Gregson’s dreams are finally coming true. Soon he will be able to claim the beautiful woman he longed for from afar for more than two years, and she will belong to him for all time.

But as their wedding day approaches, long hidden secrets from Tessa’s past will surface and stir up all of her old fears and doubts. And Ian will once again need to convince her that their love is more than strong enough to conquer all - a love that’s destined to last for all time.

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MY REVIEW

I'm all for extended epilogues and that's what this book was like. There were a few "kinks" that Ian and Tessa had to work out, but there was never any doubt that this couple was destined to have their HEA.

The only real problem I had with this story, and unfortunately it was a big issue for me, was how many times the characters (and I mean the men) went on and on and on and on and on and on... about how extraordinarily beautiful and sexy Tessa was. Seriously??? I'm talking even Ian's own brothers, who were so-called happily married, were drooling and fantasizing over the woman. Like she was a living and breathing sex doll. Like she was EVERY man's fantasy wrapped up in a sweet and shy blond package. It became extremely redundant and drastically took away from the enjoyment I should have been experiencing with this book.

I have a deep love for Janet Nissenson's work, ever since I read Serendipity, and I adored Ian and Tessa when they got their own story in Splendor. And there were many parts of this story I did love. The connection and love between them was beautiful to read and observe. It was just hard to get over how the men constantly went on about Tessa and it turned me off, because Ian and Tessa's story was about so much more than superficial looks. In all honesty, Ian's brother Colin had a POV in which 90% of it was dedicated to his fantasies about Tessa: how utterly sexy she was; her perfect tits; her perfect ass; her freaking perfect lips and how they would look wrapped around...; her absolute perfection. Dude, aren't you "happily" married? Isn't your wife pregnant with your second child? I'm not saying the men have to pretend to be blind because they're married, but what ever happened to respect? That was my problem. The lack of respect in the way that it was handled and I felt bad for the wives. It was too much and was borderline cheating and that's not my cup of tea.