Shut Up and Kiss Me - Book Review

By Jessica Lemmon

Synopsis

Cade: I tried. I really tried. I should be out of this small town by now, finishing my law degree and partnering up with my buddies, but I couldn’t resist one last street race. Now I’m sidelined in the hospital, and while my injuries will heal, I’m not so sure my voice will return. What kind of attorney can’t talk? Yeah, exactly. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to come back from this . . . until Tasha Montgomery reawakens every competitive bone in my body.

Tasha: I nearly watched Cade Wilson die on that lonely stretch of road. He’s damn lucky just to be alive, even if he doesn’t realize it. I know he’s destined for bigger and better things, but I don’t mind helping him get there as he relearns everything he took for granted. Cade’s a good student, a real perfectionist; I can tell how much his stutter bothers him. But when he lets his kisses do the talking, everything else disappears. And one day, maybe he’ll be able to tell me that he wants me—as much as I want him.

Review

SHUT UP AND KISS ME was an easy and mostly light-hearted read that I found somewhat enjoyable, but also somewhat unmemorable.

Here you have Cade who is a college dropout, and Tasha who is finishing her final year of college. Despite being college aged, there was none of that over-the-top drama that can appear in college romances, and I liked that. There were times I liked the characters and times I didn’t. Cade is a very bitter young man, filled with anger at how his life has changed since his accident, as well as anger towards his mother and his ex-girlfriend. He spends a good portion of the story treating Tasha poorly when he’s not trying to get into her pants, simply because she reminds him of his ex. Tasha is a caring young woman who wears her heart on her sleeve, but at the same time she’s a doormat. Cade, her father and her ex-boyfriend treat her horribly, and she just takes it. Although to be fair, she does stand up to her ex a little bit, which was nice to see. She’s very quick to forgive, which could be considered a good trait, but she never lets people know just how badly they hurt her because she doesn’t want to cause issues.

SHUT UP AND KISS ME is told in dual POVs and while it’s part of a series, it can be read as a stand-alone. That being said, I felt I was on the outside looking in when it came to Cade’s accident and the issue with his mother, so I’m assuming those things were introduced in the previous book and that I’d understand them better if I had read it. For me, this book was ok, but nothing special. The characters didn’t grab me, the story didn’t draw me in, and all the conflict was easily forgiven and tied up with a nice little bow by the end.