Review: Winter Roses by Diana Palmer

I am part of Paperback Swap, which is a fantastic site BTW if you are a huge reader and want to save some money and trade books it is the best way that I have found. If you haven't checked it out you should. Well, (sigh) I got a new book Friday in the mail off my wish list, it was Diana Palmer's Winter Roses. Now I am a HUGE DP fan and I am slowly but surely working my way through her books which are many! This is why this review pains me, I seriously didn't like this book. Enough that I have to say I was skipping paragraphs out of shear boredom! It isn't often that I stick out a book that I find I can't connect with after chapter 3, but I was so sure that it was going to get better I trudged on until the end. This is Diana Palmer were talking about! Ugh, so I write with a deep regret that I can't recommend this book. I was sorry to see that the hero in our little story here, Stuart didn't really give Ivy a good run for her money, I found him lacking depth and character. The two main character's were placed together too neatly to fast with no real obstacles. It is me, or do you want your two love birds to work for it. I want them to fight for love, to drag me in and force me to root for them to work it out. I need this drama in a fictional romance. I want to be transfixed into their world, I want my character's to matter. And quite frankly I expected more and instead felt somewhat deflated. This story could have been better because there was some potential with Ivy's evil sister Rachel and her mission in life to make Ivy's life and reputation suffer. Rachel was just pure she-devil and a drug addict, a liar to boot and well, just plain well...mean. It was a typical story of young best friend's of sister is the object of older man's eye (Stuart) Here is a little snippet about the synopses. Which has been done before with a lot more flare. What a bummer! BUT, and it is a bug but, this doesn't not at all deter me from remaining a DP fan, I am all over HEARTLESS when I can get my hands on it. And in all honestly this is the first book of her's that I have come across that I just hated.

Handsome, eligible ranch owner Stuart York was not one to mince words. Ivy Conley, his younger sister's best friend, found out the hard way. During a night's stay at his Jacobsville ranch, Ivy wound up in Stuart's arms. The resulting fireworks singed them both... and knowing she was too young, Stuart closed his heart to her.Now, years later, Ivy is determined not to be treated like a little girl anymore. Although still innocent, Ivy knows she has to fight her own battles, but for some reason Stuart is always fighting them for her, keeping her from harm. And safe in Stuart's arms Ivy feels like a woman... a woman who belongs to him.