Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Review - Ringer by C.J. Duggan

Title: Ringer
Series: Summer #3.5
Author: C.J. Duggan
Release Date: April 2, 2014
Pages: 155
Goodreads Rating: 4.38 Stars
My Rating: 4/5 Stars
My Content Rating: NA (Sexual content)

Summary from Goodreads: They say it’s the quiet ones you have to worry about, and she was quiet, very quiet—when she wasn’t busy despising me with a burning passion.

Ringo ‘Ringer’ James has a no-strings-attached policy.

Love them, leave them, and remain the eternal bachelor. 

After a summer in which every one of his mates has succumbed to settling down, or so it seemed, Ringer is on the lookout for a quick exit. Having had enough of the stomach-turning love fest witnessed over the past three months, Ringer jumps at the opportunity to help out his mate, Max, by heading to Max’s dad’s property for a working holiday. 

It’s just what he’s looking for. A remote, dusty homestead in Ballan, with only hard work, a cold beer and a comfy bed to worry about – no women.

Until Miranda Henry.

The privately educated daughter of his boss has returned home from overseas and things are about to get very complicated, very fast. As summer draws to its end, Ringer is about to learn that sometimes attraction defies all logic, and that there really is such a thing as ‘enemies with benefits.’


***NOTE: This review doesn't contain any major spoilers for the first three books in the series.  To read my reviews for books 1, 2 & 3, click here: The Boys of Summer  An Endless Summer  That One Summer***

Ringer is the next book in Duggan's summer series.  It's billed as book #3.5, but it's not super short - the main difference is that this book takes us away from Onslow (and the other Onslow boys) and focuses solely on Ringer.

Honestly, I didn't feel like I knew Ringer all that well after reading the first three books in the series.  He was always there, but kind of on the sidelines.  I was glad that I got the chance to know him more in this book!

The negatives:
  • Sudden turnaround.  My only issue with this book is that I didn't quite feel the connection between Miranda and Ringer the way I did with the couples in the previous books.  I felt like the transition from animosity to love was a little sudden, and I wanted to feel their relationship build a bit more.  This might simply be due to the fact that the book was, in fact, shorter than the others.  Don't get me wrong, I did think there was chemistry between these two and I did like them together, but I just wasn't 100% sold when Ringer decided he had fallen for Miranda.
What I loved:
  • Ringer.  Like I said, I didn't really feel like I got to know Ringer in the other books, so I was glad to get to know him better in this one!  I could totally get how Ringer was feeling like his friends were kind of dropping out of the picture one by one - he was losing them to the women in their lives.  And since Ringer had no intention of joining the boyfriend club, he just wanted to escape.  So, it was pretty humorous that his attempt at escape brought him directly to a hot girl with an attitude - one he couldn't quite get out of his mind.  I really ended up loving Ringer by the end of the book - he was sweet and confident without being super cocky, an all-around good guy!  (And quite swoonworthy!)
  • Miranda's character development.  At the beginning of this book, Miranda is just kind of a brat.  She seems to think she's better than everyone around her - including her family - and she's snotty and inconsiderate.  As the book goes on, though, you start to see that there's something behind all that posturing and that she's really more vulnerable than she wants to let on.  I liked seeing Miranda's transition - and watching her fall for Ringer!
  • Miranda's family.  I got a kick out of Miranda's family - especially her dad.  The poor guy was being overwhelmed by the women in his life!  :-)
Another great installment in this series.  Ringer will keep you satisfied until you get to read Adam and Ellie's story.  If you're a fan of this series, then I KNOW you can't wait for that one! 4/5 stars.



***Disclosure: This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given. All opinions are my own***


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About the Author

C.J Duggan is the number one bestselling Australian author of the 
Summer Series! C.J lives with her husband in a rural border town of 
New South Wales, Australia. When she isn’t writing books about 
swoony boys and 90’s pop culture you will find her renovating her 
hundred-year-old Victorian homestead or annoying her local travel 
agent for a quote to escape the chaos. 

Novels in the Summer Series include: 
The Boys of Summer (December 2012), An Endless Summer (July 2013), That One Summer 
(December 2013), Ringer (March 2014) and the highly anticipated, 
soon to be released Forever Summer (July 2014). 
For more on C.J and ‘The Summer Series’, visit 
www.cjdugganbooks.com 
For more information about the Summer Series check out: 
http://www.cjdugganbooks.com/books.html 

Author Links:
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