pie and papercuts

I just ... am I missing something by picking this up without reading the first books in the series? There was a little backstory given, which I assume is from previous books, but this just feels out of context. The prologue felt like it was trying to set up this backstory for Lucy and David, to explain why he is suddenly jumping to her rescue, but when it actually did was make it feel like David fell in insta-love with Lucy, and then suddenly we are in the future the story is heading in the direction of a second chance love.

But it doesn't actually read that like. If Cardello had done away with the prologue and started with chapter one and added a condensed backstory for Lucy and David, it may have worked better. As written, it feels very disjointed.

All that said, Lucy is very flat and many of the other characters are almost over the top in their characterization. The good ol boy southern gentleman, the evil ex, and so on. In the end, it just did not work for me at all.

*A free copy was provided by the published/Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.