Where She Belongs by Cindy Proctor-King

Where She Belongs I can’t help but think that writing male leads the way this author does in this book as a romantic hero is a disservice to readers.  Much like Disney giving young girls the idea that some man is going to come rescue you – at some point we have to admit that women can darn well rescue themselves! The male lead in this book Adam Wright (Mr Right? Cliché anyone?) is a pushy, demanding man.  I won’t say dominant but he treads awful near the line of domineering.  The ending is sweet, picking up her childhood dream and going into business with her best friend is heartwarming – after all who wouldn’t love to go back and rediscover the passion and joy they had as a teenager for whatever their first love was – sometimes this involves a person, sometime a career goal that they didn’t get to pursue.

The relationships being rebuilt with the women in this book is the one bright point.  Jesse and Molly – friends in childhood who time and distance tore away at the core, and Jesse and her mother – who became disconnected when Mom remarried and Jesse moved away. As annoyed as I get with the author in the descriptions of the males, the female relationships are a sweet spot.

Wow, my main thought on the male lead of this book is that he is a pushy SOB.  Both of the main characters have issues as all real people do.  The writing is pretty good, the characters are well written – enough so I want to get up and stand up for the female lead and tell him to back off.  Back off in a real way. He is clearly controlling and not in a dominant positive way.  He’s being a controlling jerk.  He wants to be more important than her job.  Yes, her job is demanding but honestly, whose isn’t busy at work these days? He wants everything with no compromise – Jessie tries to offer compromises and he refuses to back down.  Personally, rather than a romantic tryst it begins to sound like a restraining order is in order.

In conclusion, the writing is decent but unless you love the stories of the domineering man who is always right connecting with the female lead and staying together in the end. Now if we could leave the “romance” out of this romance and make it a story about women connecting… then it would be worth the read.

2 stars