All Or Nothing

I've read a couple of Claire Cross's medievals, but I wasn't even aware that she'd switched to contemporary until a read a review of this book. It seemed like a good fit for my current situation (I'm moving and running arround trying to get things ready, so light hearted books are appealing at the moment) so I splurged.

All Or Nothing by Claire Cross
(Contemporary, 2007) 8/20/07
Grade: 3.5

When Jen needs a date for Thanksgiving with her family, she decides to invite a corporate suit, who’ll annoy her family and get her off the hook. But she makes the wrong choice with Zach, the onetime black sheep of his family who is trying to make a new life for himself, and would like to do it with Jen! But is she willing to start a new life as well?

A pleasant surprise. Although I was expecting this book to be light and fun (as advertised), it dealt with some surprisingly serious themes - Jen’s recovery from cancer, Zach’s past with drugs and his guilt over his father’s suicide - while still keeping a light-hearted tone. The author excels in creating interesting and unique characters, from the hero and heroine to the many secondary characters (especially Jen’s family). The book was just enjoyable and fun to read. However, there were some flaws, especially in the last section. The “joke” about Zach and Jen getting married went on for too long, and it shortcut a real discussion about the future of their relationship (because any time they started to address it, they would just fall back on “oh, it’s just a joke, ha ha”) It got old. Also, the last quarter of the book was overstuffed with characters from previous books, and it seemed like they were only there to update readers of the series. Minor flaws, but I had to drop my grade just a bit because of that.

I understand that publishers need to make money. But at least for this romance reader, the increasing use of trade-size paperbacks is backfiring. I was very reluctant to buy this book at this price, and I only splurged because I had an Amazon gift certificate I had to use right away. I'm just not likely to take a chance on an author if I have to pay $14 for the privilege, and I rarely find trades at the library or the used bookstore. And I never know if a trade-size book is going to come out in regular paperback - most of them don't ever make it to mass market, or it takes several years. So it's "all or nothing" - I have to pay full price or I can't buy the book at all. I enjoyed this book, but will I pay $14 for her next one? Doubtful. It wasn't that great. I probably would buy it if I could pick it up for $6 or $7 (or even $8). Trades may attract the non-romance reader who thinks a trade size book is more "respectable" than a regular paperback. But this book was a fairly traditional contemporary romance, and I'm afraid a lot of romance readers have the same attitude toward trades that I do - will the non-romance buyers make up for the loss of romance readers?