Book Review: California Man



California Man by EC Sheedy
December 7, 2011
168 pages
Source: Personal e-book purchase
(currently free on Amazon Prime)
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance


Goodreads Summary: 

Too shy to love. 

Quinn Ramsay is facing the biggest decision of his life, whether or not to sell his hugely successful sports conglomerate. His schedule has been insane for years, an endless series of trains, planes and automobiles. Even so he’s not so sure he wants to give it up. For what, he keeps asking himself. Where would he go from here? What would be his next step?

With those questions in mind, he heads to a friend’s house on Salt Spring, a small island in the Pacific Northwest that promises solitude and uninterrupted time to think and plan.

Not in his plan is meeting Emily Welland, the shy owner of the local bookstore. She intrigues him as no woman has in years—more so when he sees how determined she is to avoid him.

Emily is timid, insecure, and introspective—and she has her reasons. She’s read about Quinn Ramsay, the brilliant and handsome celebrity entrepreneur with the Midas touch, and she’s seen pictures of him in the tabloids, always with a beautiful model or actress on his arm. She knows he walks red carpets with the same ease that he hosts charity sporting events and fund raisers. His glittering California life is the polar opposite to her quiet, safe, and reclusive life on Salt Spring Island. And when he starts to show an interest in her, her initial reactions are disbelief, fear—and panic attacks. None of which she can control. 

All of which makes Quinn more interested than ever.

 My Review:

This is a sweet romance between two opposites. Where Quinn is outgoing and athletic, Emily is shy and reclusive. Yet circumstances have brought them together, meeting on the small island of Salt Spring. Quinn is at a turning point in his life, trying to make big decisions that will affect his future, and he's not quite sure where his future is headed. Emily is living her reclusive life, with her few friends, contended to let her past heartbreak continue to play on her currently and too fearful to let go. Neither are looking for a relationship, and neither is what the other would expect to be someone they would attract or pursue, and yet, on this small island, fate has brought them together. They will either help and love each other, or leave each other more heartbroken than ever.

I liked both Quinn and Emily's characters. Quinn is a persistent, yet gentle and sensitive, guy. He is starting to realize what he wants and he sees Emily for who she is, not the wall she hides behind. I like his persistence and confidence, yet I also appreciate how the author keeps him humble. His past with women was easy. His new relationship with Emily is anything but. I could also relate to Emily's shyness. It can be such a crippling feeling, plus the added past hurts she suffered made her insecurities that much worse. I appreciate how the author tried to show Emily working out of the inhibitions, yet also showed how easy it was to slip back into her old self. But I will also say that there came a point when Emily was very frustrating. But the author also had some great secondary characters, one of which told Emily exactly what she needed to hear. There were also other elements thrown into the story, showing not only the personalities of the characters, but also their interests and humanity, and it helped to demonstrate how these two initial opposites were really well suited for each other, if they allowed themselves to be.

This is a sweet romance, and a quick, well-edited read, that I really enjoyed. There was one steamy love scene, but otherwise the sexual situations were fairly mild and not overdone. I look forward to reading the next book with Paul and Lynn.

4 STARS