seriously romantic: i knew you were trouble by soraya lane

so this is the third and final book of lane's texas kings series. i had not read the two earlier books before reading i knew you were trouble, but i did not find this problematic. the novels can obviously stand alone, and the only reason to read them in order is if you are opposed to seeing characters settled into their happily-ever-afters without witnessing firsthand all the sturm und drang that came before it. i have no such qualms so this did not bother me.

this book is about the oldest king brother, nate, and his relationship with faith, his best friend's little sister aka the woman he swore he'd never touch. she shows up on his doorstep asking for asylum after her most recent relationship takes a bad turn. so here's one thing that weirded me out about the book, these characters are kind of violent. in one scene nate calls a guy, who then basically asks if nate needs someone killed. it's a little weird, right? and then later nate actually kind of considers the offer but decides that he'll do his own dirty work--which is just punching the guy, but the whole thing is so weird.

here's the other problem, faith was so undecided about what she wanted to do about nate that she wishy-washed her way out of the relationship. she's the one who hurts him terribly by leaving and then in the end, he's the one who has to go out and woo her. he says things like "oh if i had let her get away i would regret it forever" except she's the one who left. she's the one who was so emotionally stunted from her childhood and her recent past that it felt totally false to make nate be the one to work for it in the end. there weren't really stakes here, and i think that was kind of the issue i had throughout the book, because the obstacles felt totally ridiculous and made up. there was no reason for these two people not to be able to work out a reasonable solution to their relationship without it resorting to high drama. i don't know, i think because the biggest obstacle in their relationship was faith herself, it felt wrong to have nate be the one to have to work so hard to fix things.

anyway, it's a pretty standard contemporary romance. perfectly good to read while you are spending some time by the pool.

**i knew you were trouble will publish on june 28, 2016. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/st. martin's press in exchange for my honest review.