Little Miss Bookmark: Book Review: Eye Candy (Real Love #1) by Jessica Lemmon

Jacqueline: As an adult woman--and the vice president of a marketing firm--I shouldn't be waiting by my office window to ogle the mystery man who jogs by every morning at 11:45. Sure, he's a gorgeous, perfect specimen of the human race, but I can't bring myself to hit on a total stranger. However, my best friend-slash-colleague Vince Carson thinks I should do more than talk to the guy. In fact, he's borderline obsessive about "getting me laid." (His words.) But the more time we spend together, the more it's clear: The one I'm falling for is Vince.

Vince: Jackie Butler's got it bad for some pompous, over-pumped A-hole who struts his stuff past her window. That doesn't bother me. I know she deserves nice things. What does bother me is that she friend-zoned me big-time last year, so I can't ask her out myself. But what if I set her up with Mr. Steroids? Then, when he breaks her heart, I can swoop in and save her like the nice guy I am. Everything's going according to plan . . . until we share a ridiculously epic kiss. And suddenly anything is possible.

For the first time in my Jessica Lemmon reading history, I didn't give one of her books 5-Stars. Dude. I'm as shocked as you are. I know that it's really not that big of a deal, I gave this one 4-Stars. That's close to the same, right? It is but at the same time, it's no where near the same.

I don't think that there was any ONE thing that made me shake my head and say nope to a five star rating. The concept of the book was interesting ... you have these two friends ... Jackie has hard-core friend-zoned poor Vince and she's interested in this sweaty buff runner dude. Vince (being the genius that he is) decides that he is going to help Jackie get said sweaty buff runner dude and Vince thinks that he'll be there to pick up the pieces when Jackie's heart gets broken. Which, if we're being honest, is a depressing thought. Pretty sure it would just be easier to tell Jackie that he likes her rather than pushing her towards another dude but hey, who am I to say what would be easier ... I have ovaries and common sense. Most of the time. Anyway, so I don't need to tell you how things worked out with Jackie and sweaty buff runner dude.

I liked the characters okay. I actually liked Vince more than I liked Jackie. I don't know if it's because I felt badly for Vince and his idiotic ideas or what. Come on, who doesn't love an underdog. I did find myself both rolling my eyes and rooting for Vince during each sentence. Jackie kind of annoyed me ... I just wanted her to make out with Vince and his sexy tattoos already.

Maybe that's what my issue with the book was ... it wasn't the book itself, you know, the meat of the story ... no, not Vince's meat, you perv. The foundation of the story was amazing. Maybe it was my frustration towards Jackie and her tunnel vision for sweaty buff runner dude. Honestly, we've all been there, I'm sure. You have a close friend that you don't see as being a sexual entity who happens to be made for you and you only focus on the handsome shell of a man that for some reason, you just have to have but then you get it and you realize that you don't want it.

Anyway ... if you could read between my random tangents, I liked the book. It was good. Because Jackie is a blind donkey, I didn't LOVE the book but it was one that I would read again. Maybe I just need to give it a couple of months and give this one a shot again. I don't want to break my 5-Star rating streak for all Lemmon books, right?

* I received this novel in exchange for an honest review *

Available: July 25th, 2017