Title :             Branding the Virgin 

Author :           Alexa Riley

Series :            n/a

Release date :   July 13th 2016

Rating :           1 Stars

 

 

Blurb : Mary-Jane wasn’t looking for drama. All she wanted was a family of her own, so she decided to make that happen. A mix-up at the sperm bank leaves her with a baby in her belly, but the father is none the wiser.Ty was injured in a bull-riding accident, and now all he plans on doing is working on his ranch and keeping to himself. That is, until a little dark-haired woman shows up on his doorstep.When their paths cross, will Mary-Jane be able to reveal to Ty that he’s the father? Will Ty be able to keep Mary-Jane from running? Will there be a lot of steam in this book? You betcha!

 

Warning: This pregnant virgin story is wonderfully ridiculous and just as sweet as it sounds. Saddle up and take an evening stroll with this easy quickie.

 

Review : I assume from bunch of 4 or 5 star reviews that I seem to be either missing a huge point in “Branding the Virgin” by Alexa Riley or I am the odd one out there. But unfortunately I am honestly not able to give this story more than 1 Star. And this ONLY due to my own rating system which I religiously follow – because it honestly feels more like a DNF

 

Well first of all this is a short story which I was not really aware of (might have been my mistake but well with all the warnings you read nowadays a hint on this being a short story might have been nice.

 

Anyway the blurb warns the reader that this //quote// pregnant virgins story is wonderfully ridiculous and just as sweet as it sounds //un-quote//.

 

I agree with the first point – it is ridiculous … really which might have been ok – given this warning. But my problem is really the second point in this statement “as sweet as it sounds”. Because this point I could see nowhere in these pages honestly.

 

Clearly a short story does not leave much time to develop characters – therefore I am always reluctant to read those – BUT I have seen it being done in a decent form. Still adding an almost nonexistent form of InstaLove (yeah I just made that up – but I have no idea how to explain what really happened in that story) … anyway adding this to the short story there is no space for anything even remotely sweet.

 

Because SWEET implies some sort of connection between the characters.

 

Ok I think I can in this special case not avoid to spoiler something to make myself clear. I usually avoid that as best as I can. Therefore be warned to read further.

 

Ty, the male lead does not fall in InstaLove with Mary-Jane… no. He simply wants to keep her because an “important part” of the male anatomy stirs when he sees her. And given the fact that this part of him was supposed to be “broken” this is a huge deal.

 

So if this would be a dark romance that plot might really work in a different setting … but not within a story settling like this one – I am missing the sweet part her fully – really sorry – might be only me but I can not help it.

 

The writing itself isn’t bad or so and the plot idea also was good – but the handling did not work out with the length of the story and especially not with the reasoning of the leading characters to fall in love with each other.

 

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