Tempest in Eden By Sandra Brown

          Tempest in Eden first caught my eye when I read the summary. "This novel follows the growing relationship between Shay Morrison, a nude model for artists, and Ian Douglas, a conservative minister who disapproves of her lifestyle but cannot resist her." It sounded cliched; ya know, bad girl meets stick-in-the-mud guy, they argue/attract each other, blah blah blah and live happily ever after. A lot of the time, I love to read books like that.
          Wellll...this time, not so much. First off, the book is personally, too short for me to get into and know the characters all the way. I like the book to start off interesting and action packed, sure, but I like it too be lengthy enough for me to really hold my attention. Unless I'm reading a Harlequin Extras or something like that. Tempest in Eden starts off with Shay going to meet her new stepdad an stepbrother, which happens to be Ian Douglas. There's the second problem.
          Shay and Ian are instantly passionate for each other, which I find kinda skeevy since they're now step-siblings. I know, I know, they aren't actually related by blood or anything, but still. How are you going to introduce each other, "Hi, this is_____, my stepbro slash love interest?" Ummm, ew.
          Third, the characters go quickly from hate each other, to insanely in love. There isn't enough much conflict; there are a few skirmishes, but not enough for a reader to be excited. Characters usually take more than a few days to go from hatred to happy ever after.
          I have to say this book was pretty disappointing for me even though I actually love the author. It's not a newer book, so maybe Sandra got better. Read some of her newer suspense novels, they are seriously better.
          Here's the book cover of Tempted by Sandra Brown: