Title:  Screwdrivered
Author: Alice Clayton
Publisher/Year: Gallery Books 9/2/14
Length: 256
Series: Cocktail #3

Overview

Readers back for a third round of the bestselling Cocktail series will enjoy a madcap romantic comedy about bodice ripping and chest heaving, fiery passion and love everlasting. Plus a dash of paperwork filing and horseshi—wait, what?

By day, Viv Franklin is a tough-as-nails software engineer who designs programs and loves hospital corners. By night, Vivian’s a secret romance-novel junkie who longs for a knight in shining armor, or a cowboy on a wild stallion, or a strapping firefighter to sweep her off her feet. And she gets to wear the bodice—don’t forget the bodice.

When a phone call brings news that she’s inherited a beautiful old home in Mendocino, California from a long-forgotten aunt, she moves her entire life across the country to embark on what she sees as a great, romance-novel-worthy adventure. But romance novels always have a twist, don’t they?

There’s a cowboy, one that ignites her loins. Because Cowboy Hank is totally loin-ignition worthy. But there’s also a librarian, Clark Barrow. And he calls her Vivian. Can tweed jackets and elbow patches compete with chaps and spurs? You bet your sweet cow pie.

In Screwdrivered, Alice Clayton pits Superman against Clark in a hilarious and hot battle that delights a swooning Viv/Vivian. Also within this book, an answer to the question of the ages: Why ride a cowboy when you can ride a librarian?

My Thoughts

I’m really happy that we’ve gone a bit sideways from the main cast of characters that we’ve known and loved in the first 2 installments and got to know Viv a bit more.  She was a great intro in book 2 and now it’s her turn for romance.  And she’s a girl after my own heart given that i’ve been quite taken by romance novels, thinking that it would be great to be the lead in one of my own.

So, it’s a love triangle that never quite makes it in this 3rd book, and our author writes it in such a way that you want to cover your eyes at what’s going to be a train wreck and push Viv in the direction that she should be going in.  Cowboy or Librarian is the question of the book, and i think that we all want the librarian since he’s so hot in a geeky sort of way that works for Viv, yet you can’t help but really want to go team Cowboy because he’s just HOT.

Throughout this 3rd installment we see Viv question what’s right for her since she’s feeling unsettled, wondering why she was left a house and land, and then wondering what’s going to be her future.  The great thing that we have here is the friendships that she’s made with Simon and Caroline, the new girl Jessica and well, all the men from the town.  Its definitely a time in her life that she’s growing and realizing what she’s made out of, and still not quite sure if it’s anything solid.

It takes us the majority of the story to get to the juicy parts, but given that this is more Chick Lit than romance, i’m ok with that.  We have a hearty story at least of trying to get to the depths of our characters, if it’s Viv, Cowboy or even Clark.  He’s got an interesting story of his own that i’m glad that we get to uncover.

So….i gather there’s no more to this series and i’m ok with that – we’ve resolved quite a bit with quite a few folks.  I’m curious a bit on the ending of Mimi/Ryan and Sophia/Neil but if we never get that far, then i’m still ok.  Good reading for a plane ride today at least and i hope that you guys continue on the journey!