Untying the Knot by Meghan Quinn -- 2 stars

[Nicole R]

Untying the Knot by Meghan Quinn
2 stars

The first half of this book annoyed me, the second half was better, but the whole thing could have been 100 pages shorter.

Ryot and Myla have been married for six years, but recent changes in their professional and person lives have left Myla unhappy. Seemingly out of nowhere to Ryot, Myla serves him with divorce papers. He absolutely does not want a divorce but tells Myla he will sign the papers if she stays with him for three weeks and attends a Napa wedding of a friend and colleague with him. Three weeks that Ryot plans to win her back.

This book was told in alternating storylines between Myla and Ryot meeting through becoming engaged and then Myla presenting Ryot with divorce papers through the Napa wedding.

Let me tell you what didn't work for me:

1. I get this is a romcom so we do not want in-depth descriptions of tortured years of fighting, attempted therapy, and tears before a potential reconciliation. BUT, this was totally out of the blue. Who serves someone they claim to love with divorce papers out of nowhere? No serious discussions about it. No therapy. No warning. It was too much. I understand that might happen in some situations, but this just did not seem extreme enough for that.

2. I THINK that we were supposed to understand Myla's perspective more once we learned about her childhood and home life. BUT, because of the dual storylines, we were well into the divorce talk before we even got an inkling that Myla may have had some long-lasting trauma from her childhood. I did have more sympathy for her after that, but by then I had been annoyed for 200 pages. Too little too late.

3. Myla was a brat. She was petty, vindictive, and kept punishing Ryot for things that he wasn't even aware that he had been doing. And Ryot was no angel either. Once Myla threw down the gauntlet, Ryot did not hesitate to wade into the waters. It just all felt juvenile.

4. We had a completely unnecessary illness storyline. The only purpose it served was to give said sick person leverage over everyone else in the story to pressure them into a resolution to all the conflict.

But, on the plus side, dang does Meghan Quinn deliver with the fire smut!

The last half of the story was certainly better than the first, and there were some good supporting characters.

Seems like the next couple of books will be about Ryot's brother Banner and their friend Penn. I have no doubt I will pick them up. lol