Remember, spoiler tags don’t work here like on Goodreads, so spoilers, if any, are shown. You’ve been warned. 😉

Taming Mad Max by Theresa Ragan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I laughed. I cried. Two or three times in fact. Yup, this was a great contemporary romance novel. Oddly, I actually like the Cole/Lindsay side-story better than the Max/Kari main story, and that’s what really pulled me through in a few points.

But the tears came 1) when Max took Molly for the first time. I could FEEL Kari’s pain at watching her daughter leave. and 2) when Lindsay did NOT go through with the sperm donation . Yup. I was a blubbering fool during those two parts.

The overall story is a little cliche. It’s a lot of he said/she said and someone was holding back the truth. Yes, I’ve read that exact plot line in many, many, many contemporary romances. And then there was the she wants him, no she doesn’t and he wants her, no she doesn’t. This was in the main characters.

But Cole and Lindsay … THAT’s where the story was unique. Right up until the last possible moment I thought Lindsay was going to go through with her plan. Her character was more 3D because she wore her emotions on her sleeve — right there for everyone to see. She was never untruthful. She never withheld. She was goal oriented and had plans. It took a LOT for her to get to that point and to make the decision she did. I know that’s vague, but she and Cole were the ones I connected with. Really, really like them.

As for Max and Kari, I had a really hard time with her sudden turn of heart. She just all the sudden decided to show up naked at his house? No big ‘aha’ moment that we see … just ‘off she went?”. I didn’t buy it. And I think that’s why I had to drop this story to a 4 instead of a 5. I didn’t believe in Max and Kari’s motives or the changes they went through as much as I did Cole and Lindsay.

There is a bigger cast in this all of which help flesh out Max’s character, but we’re left with far less on Kari’s side. Of course, there’s Molly, who is the epitome of a teenager and a well written one. I will say, Molly’s little diatribe, at the end in the hospital, didn’t seem to fit her character. She went from 13 to 18+ without us really seeing that she was like that.

I’m very curious about Nicole since the story ended on somewhat of a cliffhanger for her. 🙂 Probably will have to look and see if there is a story with her somewhere in Theresa Ragan’s library. 🙂 She was the most conflicted of all the characters (over even Breanna — though I LOVE Joey’s fix on their relationship issues!).

While I officially added this to my GR list in August, I didn’t start reading until September 29th and finished it October 1st.

If you love contemporary romance, this is a good, simple read.

View all my reviews