Review: Sweet Destiny

Sweet Destiny by Rochelle Alers
Genre: Romance, African-American
Pages: 223 (Ereader)
Source: Net Galley

Description:
An Eaton Summer Wedding

No one gives her heart like an Eaton woman…

A West Virginia mining community is a long way from Dr. Mia Eaton’s Dallas hometown. But trading in her designer duds for flannel and jeans isn’t such a major sacrifice. Not when the town has virile, off-the-charts-gorgeous Kenyon Chandler as their sheriff. Too bad he’s as arrogant as can be…until the night he’s injured in the line of duty.

Ever since they met at her cousin Xavier’s wedding, Kenyon hasn’t been able to get Mia out of his mind. And once he’s under the sultry Southerner’s tender loving care, he knows he’s lost. Kenyon gives her six months before she hightails it back home for the pampered life she left behind. Unless he can convince her that they are each other’s sweet destiny…

My Rating:

My Review:
Kenyon attended MIT, joined the air force where he learned to fly fighter jets, renovated his 8000 square foot home by himself, and of course, he'g gorgeous.  Now he is the sheriff of a small town.  Dr. Mia Eaton is tall, thin, beautiful, and smart--she received amazing grades in med school and could have completed her residency anywhere.   In addition, she is a part of the prominent Eaton family.  Her father is a doctor and her mother's family has gas on their property which they rent to the Gas companies, making the family one of the richest black families in Texas.  Being the selfless person that she is, Mia moves to the middle of nowhere to complete her residency.  It actually costs her money to do this as she uses her own money to start necessary programs.  Hmmm... I think you can see where I am going with these super perfect characters.

This book was not for me.  Although romance novels often have perfect, beautiful, and feisty characters, these characters were beyond the norm.  This made them boring and unbelievable in my opinion.  Perhaps I wouldn't have noticed the characters' extreme perfectnion if they had to face a difficult problem(s), requiring them to use their all to solve it.  This is also not the case.  Kenyon at first mistakenly believes that Mia is a snob which she addresses early in the book and Kenyon quickly apologizes.  In addition, Kenyon worries that Mia will tire of small town living and head back to Dallas.  There were other problems that came up but they all seemed so silly to me.  I did not buy into their romance at all.

BUT there's good news!! I enjoyed all the other aspects of the book.  I enjoyed all the secondary characters and story lines.  While I didn't buy into Dr. Mia the super smart, rich, selfless woman.  I loved Dr. Mia, the doctor.  It was very interesting how she interacted with her patients and attacked problems that came up.

Ultimately, this is a predictable read with super perfect characters, no real problem, and lovely secondary characters and storylines.  I recommend this to lovers of romance who do not mind perfect characters.

I have different expectations of characters in romance novels than characters in other genres.  I expect them to be ripped and a bit more perfect than not.  Though I prefer imperfect characters, perfect characters (within reason) are usually okay in romance novels.  Do you have different expectations for one genre over others?