Far From Home (A Mangrove Island Novel Book 2) by Neve Cottrell #Review

Pages -  238

Genre -  Contemporary, Romantic Comedy

Series -  Mangrove Island 2 of 7

Publisher -   Tropic Turtle Press

Published -  Nov 19, 2014

Sold by -  Amazon Digital Services LLC

Narrative -  3rd Person

Language -  tame

Sexual Content -  3/5

Caspian Warwick, the Marquess of Pembroke, has been enjoying life on Mangrove Island, hosting lavish parties on his yacht and getting a taste of the local female flavor. When his old friend and political adviser arrives to woo him back to public office in England, they hatch a plan to rehabilitate his image, starting with his scandalous love life.
Public relations guru Rebecca Laughlin has fled to Mangrove Island from New York after a disastrous affair with her womanizing boss. She's sworn off charmers and takes an instant dislike to Lord Warwick. In desperate need of money, however, she agrees to help him resurrect his defunct political career by finding him a suitable wife that the public will adore.
No one can deny the heat between them ~ the heated arguments and hot tempers, that is. Will they embrace their feelings for each other or will they let their past dictate their future?

Well written Contemporary romance with two far-fetched if not unbelievable leads who start out on the wrong foot via assumption and past mistakes.

He is a Royal playboy vacationing on a Florida island via yacht and a lavish beach house and She has escaped NYC, a nice job in PR, and a playboy boss to hide out at her parents vacation home on the same island.

The Royal playboy breaks her kayak with his yacht and after rescuing her from the ocean, she (wearing a pink leopard-print bikini), proceeds to cuss him out in front of his hung over guests.

He is in lust now and She is fighting temptation by constantly reminding herself that Brad (her previous boss/boyfriend) was as much of a lecher and womanizer as this present hot guy.

She doesn't mind his older friend, though, and when the man approaches her about a PR job to recreate the Marquess' tainted image, she jumps at the chance to make some money.

Rebecca is hired to find Caspian the perfect bride so that he can return to London and re-position himself in the House of Lords.

Rebecca finds three suitable candidates -- well, one actually -- the other two are highly doubtful from the start, so it was a bit confusing (or obvious in order to move the story along).

Rebecca is also ignoring text messages and phone calls from her ex boss/boyfriend while fielding calls from her uppity mother when her little brother arrives (to keep tabs on her and report his findings to said mother).

What??

Yeah, I know, right?

Anyway, the story progresses at an even pace with Caspian trying to clean up his image and Rebecca trying to avoid everyone from her past when the two keep finding themselves alone together, their feelings for one another grow, and a heated kiss throws everything off kilter.

I'm sticking with my 4-Heart review because despite some issues with the story itself, I still enjoyed this read and will likely be reading more in this series.

The Issues

Yes, the writing itself is practically flawless and reads well, but as for the characters and the story being full body and robust with action, drama, mayhem, and intrigue (comedy?), no.

Caspian's physical description made him interesting, and some of his mannerisms made him a likable chap.

Rebecca, however, started off as a ditz who ran away from her problems and became a raving bitch after meeting Caspian.

She was pretty, though, and in the pink leopard-print bikini, well, Caspian couldn't help himself, I guess.

Something seemed to be missing to make this an even better story, and I think it falls along the lines of there not being much substance to the plot.

The mother looming over Rebecca could have made a grande dame appearance at some point to upset the apple cart.

Her ex boss/boyfriend could have arrived to shake things up a bit.

But even when the paparazzi (which the author referred to as 'pap', invoking breast images in my mind!) got wind of Caspian's intentions, nothing ever really came of it.

The author did introduce a sinister character on Caspian's side who began to stir up the pot and threaten his hideaway lifestyle, but it was swept out to sea without an ounce of antagonism or fanfare.

It felt a bit like the author was afraid to stretch her own boundaries by wanting to stick to the day-to-day issues of the two leads and add a minor heart-wrenching situation which helped to bring them closer together.

So, again, while this probably really deserves 3.5 or even 3 stars, I gave it 4 because it was easy, well-written, and an interesting story.

And there is a Happily-Ever-After.

This book can be enjoyed as a standalone, but here are the other residents of Mangrove Island ~