Overall, I found many parts of the story entertaining and enjoyed life on ranch and all the supporting characters who were well developed. And iffy dialogue around the way a woman is supposed to behave, like she was supposed to magically be a perfect southern belle. On the other hand, there was so much questionable dialogue around consent eg 'what if I don't want to' 'I know you want to but you're just being difficult'. On the one hand, the woman took too stupid to live to a whole other level with her selfish and reckless actions. The romance aspect just seemed like the foundation for a toxic relationship with juvenile jibes and manipulation from her side and constant man handling from his side. Pair that with a male lead who has some anger and control issues and lashes out in the name of trying to protect an uncooperative victim. The female lead is infuriatingly hot-headed, immature and so antagonistic. Does every male lead really need to be a firefighter/cop/private detective/prince? If anyone is considering buying this book, I recommend the Outlander series instead. I just really wish we could raise the bar in romance novels. I don't want to sound like one of those internet trolls who bashes everyone.

Is the romance genre really this bad? Maybe I should quit my day job and start writing.

I was hoping for a fun beach read, so my expectations weren't high. I just couldn't endure one more cliche (awakening to birds chirping - kinds of cliches). That's right, I sat in silence, rather than go on reading it. I honestly started to feel bad for the male lead, who I knew was going to get stuck getting together with this woman, which I am 99% sure happened, but I couldn't actually finish the book (despite this being my only book while I was out of the country without internet access). (though sexy, so that must make up for everything else).

She is whiny, stupid, fearful, incompetent, nagging, fearful of spiders, etc. The lead female character was an amalgamation of every negative stereotype you have ever heard about women.

So bad, I was embarrassed to be listening to it.

Rules of Protection by Alison Bliss