Depth. In a 50,000-word novel, it’s hard to achieve. When an author manages to convey it in a series title, the results are astounding. When an author fails to do so, you get a book like this one.

The book suffers from a lack of depth in both its plot and, more markedly, in its characters. These two deficiencies made it impossible for me to connect emotionally with it, which made it hard to enjoy. While the writing was smooth and enjoyable, I’d rather read a shoddily-written book with depth than a polished but shallow one.

As far as Russell McClain is concerned, Alistair Power is the sole reason his father committed suicide. Sixteen years ago, he swore to take everything Power held dear, and he’s pursued that goal relentlessly. He’s finally ruined the man’s business and bought his home, but that isn’t enough. So when he meets and is attracted to Nicole Power, his enemy’s daughter, he decides he’ll have her, too.

Nicole is actually Alistair’s stepdaughter, and she isn’t very pleased with her stepfather or her mother at the moment. When she caught her fiancé cheating on her, her mother encouraged her to ignore it, and her stepfather criticized her for breaking the engagement off. The shock of realizing that the three most important people in her life weren’t who she thought they were prompted her to make some changes, and she’s spent the past few months changing from a pampered society girl into a better person. The only way a heroine can become a better person, of course, is to devote herself to either animals or, preferably, children. Nicole went all-out and chose Thai orphans, wowee!

So when she finds herself attracted to Russell, she decides to go for it. And that’s about it, really. Russell briefly struggles with the fact that she’s his enemy’s daughter, but he gets over it quickly enough.

The problem I have with this plot is that it’s boring. Hideously so. I felt like the author didn’t think the plot through beyond using Russell’s hatred of Alistair to get the hero and heroine together. And because the characters lacked depth, reading about them wasn’t interesting. [spoiler]Nicole’s reaction when she found out why Russell had been interested in her in the first place was such a waste of good dramatic potential. “Oh, you were only interested in me because you wanted to take away all that my stepfather held dear? No biggie! I know you love me anyway!” YEAH, RIGHT. That scene could have made the book actually interesting; instead it just reinforced my boredom. [/spoiler]

As I mentioned earlier, the writing was good. The fact that it was good enough to make me notice it despite my sheer boredom is what makes gives this book its grade.

D