Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The minute I saw this book's description, I was intrigued by its being billed as "Indiana Jones meets Stephanie Plum". First of all, who doesn't like Indiana Jones. Secondly, I happen to love the Stephanie Plum novels, which are pure hilarious entertainment. This book, however, is neither Indiana Jones nor Stephanie Plum. Spoilers to follow. First off, I was completely appalled by Jake being offered up as a love interest. At the beginning of the book, he refers to Kendall as a "skirt". He is such an over-the-top sexist pig that I could barely stomach him. I understood that he was being set up as the bad boy who would be reformed, but no, just no. As if his dismissing Kendall in such a demeaning way isn't bad enough, the only real action from the first sixty pages or so consists of him either thinking about having sex with Kendall or his offering sex to her in outrageous, laughable, offensive ways. From the very beginning, he treats her like an object, and the explanation for this behavior was a joke. Not only this, he has a habit of slipping into her bed and fondling her while she's sleeping. This is just plain wrong, and there is no excuse for his behavior. As if this isn't bad enough, things just get worse when Nathan shows up. Ostensibly, Nathan is the good guy with a dark secret. In reality, he treats Kendall as an object every bit as much as Jake does. I was appalled by the scene in which the two of them fight over her like dogs fighting over a steak. Each of them acts like he owns her, and neither of them give her any credit for having a brain or a will of her own. I thought they were both deplorable. I don't even know where to begin with Kendall. Her actions make no sense, and she doesn't seem to have a coherent thought in her head. It annoyed me to no end that she never stood up for herself, that she let Jake act like a jerk without ever calling him out on it--at least not until near the end of the novel and, by that point, she's pretty much ready to sleep with him. She never felt like a fully realized character to me, and I didn't find her back story compelling. And if she can't seem to figure out who Adam is, well, she's not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. But it wasn't just the bad characters that made me dislike this book so much, though that's reason enough, particularly when it comes to the two repellent male leads. This book lacked focus. Much of the action (if it can be called that) consists of characters sitting around and having inane conversations. Everyone in this book is so thick, I almost rolled my eyes right out of my head. They bumble around in a way that's ridiculously incompetent. Jake is supposed to be the best? He seemed like a rank amateur to me. There's no sense of setting to this book either. It takes place in Italy, but it could take place in New Jersey, Canada, or Antarctica thanks to the utter lack of scenery. It made no sense to me whatsoever to set it in Italy if the setting is going to be so generic, unless this was done just to showcase how rich Nathan is by having Kendall and Jake fly around in his private jet and drive a dizzying array of fancy cars. I was surprised the motorcycle didn't have a brand name attached to it. The bottom line is this is just a poorly constructed book. Lines that were supposed to be funny read like some cheesy bit that would be read by a leering frat boy in a B-movie. The characters were shallow and stereotypical, and the plot--which really had the potential to be engaging and interesting--was just absurd. I think I know all I need to know about this series.