Well, one thing about the title is appropriate.
Millie Barnes is one foolish heroine, but the only thing that’s rushed in this novel is the ending. I’ve read and liked Kristin Higgins before: her 2008 release “Just One of the Guys” was very emotional and charming, and I still have my copy of it. (Tentative Keeper Status) While “Just One of the Guys” has a solid hero and a quirky, but strong and likeable heroine, “Fools Rush In” has a silly heroine, and no evident hero (cue the rushed ending). Millie Barnes is smart, she is a doctor, after all, but really, really dumb most of the time. She’s been obsessed with one man for over half her life, Joe Carpenter (the Carpenter). She studies and “stalks” him, with only the purest of intentions, of course. This behavior is played off as cute and harmless, if pathetic. Well, it’s just pathetic, and Millie knows it too, but it doesn’t stop her. She has come home to Cape Cod, inherited a house, secured a good job, and started exercising and losing the weight she has gained during her medical residency. All of this is done in pursuit of the glorious Joe. She just knows that he’ll love her once he notices her. And well, he does. Millie’s subterfuge has paid off – she gets Joe’s attention…and dates him for most of the book!!! That’s right – and Joe Carpenter is not the “hero!” They date and have mediocre sex for a big chunk of the book and months in the characters lives. While this is a pet peeve of mine (hero/heroine with another person during the course of the novel) I do have to say that Higgins avoided some obvious clichés with this relationship. Although we’re told Joe gets around, Joe was not just using Millie for sex. He’s not dating her as a dare or a joke, he really likes her. And he’s not even a bad guy – just a slob, and a little dumb. The hero
supposedly is Sam Nickerson, who recently divorced the heroine’s older, bitchier, prettier sister – a woman who cheated on him and left him and their 17-year-old son for New Jersey and another man. Sam is a good guy. In fact he’s a great guy, I have no problems with his character. I just don’t buy their love story. Sam is around and helpful throughout the book, but there is no chemistry, I mean no chemistry between these two leads. He calls her “kiddo” constantly, (and this book is in first person POV, so you can’t even tell if he’s doing it to distance himself from a dangerous growing attraction to Millie). Millie even tries to hook him up with her best friend since he’s newly single. Then after she’s dated and done with Joe, Millie has an “Emma”-like epiphany that she loves Sam – has always loved Sam. I can buy that, after all it works in “Emma”, but I don’t buy that he returns her feelings at all. Sam and Millie declare their love with less than 30 pages to go – and then Higgins throws in some drama and frankly, I didn’t care how it ended I just wanted it done. Higgins, is a goofy and fun writer, and she still managed to tug my heartstrings as I was reading – but when all is said and done, I just don’t buy it. Plus I didn’t even get into all the family weirdness of being with the man who was with your sister for almost 20 years. I feel there could have been a better love story with Joe, had she written him differently. Hell, when you devote that much of your heroine’s and the reader’s time to a guy, you owe us some pay off, right? Sam should have stayed in the background with the other family members, and maybe give him a nice secondary reunion love story, because he is a good dude, just not the hero of this book in my opinion. There’s a fine line between chick lit and some contemporary romance, and for the most part it’s the price tag. While Harlequin clearly announces this as a “romance” on the spine, the first-person POV, the quest for self-improvement, the gay best friends, and the rushed surprise ending, all lead me to think this is chick lit in a $5.99 package. I probably wouldn’t have been as hard on this book if I went into it thinking I was reading chick lit. I can think of several examples of chick lit (including books by Jane Green, Jennifer Weiner, and Emily Giffin) where the love interest isn’t a prominent feature throughout the novel, and I’m not bothered by it. However, my standards are different with romance, I ask for a lot. I really need to believe in the characters, and believe that they love each other. Chick lit can be about a woman’s journey to happiness, and sometimes that includes love, and sometimes it doesn’t (like “Animal Husbandry” by Laura Zigman). With romance, I know the hero and heroine will fall in love – the fun is seeing how they get there – that’s what’s lacking in “Fools Rush In” no one falls in love in this book - they just declare it at the end and we're supposed to believe it. Well, I don't - but I think Higgins is very talented in some respects and this is a debut novel, so I'll cut her a break. If I come across one of her backlist novels or the new one at the library or used book store I would definately give her another chance.
