Review – More Than This by Shannyn Schroeder

More Than This is an amusing story of two people who spend a lot of time bouncing between friends, bed buddies, and friends again to finally figuring out that together they make sense. ~ Guilty Pleasures

Description:
When a lonely teacher teams up with a handsome bartender for some outrageous acts, they both get more than they bargained for…

Learning her ex-husband is going to be a father, Quinn Adams is determined to have a baby of her own—without the partnership of a man. But her sister and friends believe she needs to focus on herself first, and step out of her comfort zone by completing a list of adventures. Challenge number one is to go on five dates within two weeks. After a few disastrous attempts, Quinn’s ready to give up—until sexy bartender Ryan O’Leary offers his assistance.

Ryan has always been the dependable one in his family, often at his expense. But lately, he’s been longing for a life—and a woman—of his own. The woman he has in mind is Quinn. Though it seems all she wants is friendship, Ryan can’t ignore the explosive chemistry he feels between them. In the hopes of becoming closer, Ryan offers to help out with Quinn’s list. But when she asks him for a serious favor, he’s afraid it will jeopardize his chance to become more than friends.

I don’t know what it says about me that I really seem to enjoy books that revolve around pubs and bars, but for some reason I do. Maybe it was watching Cheers for so many years and thinking it would be cool to be a part of a place like that or maybe because there have been so many fabulous books written about pubs and bars and their always hunky, smoldering hot owners. Whatever the case, I once again find myself caught up in another great story where the hero owns a pub and an upscale bar and the heroine is a school teacher, yes my friends I’m in heave with these two! More Than This is an amusing and frustrating story of two people who spend a lot of time bouncing between friends, bed buddies, and friends again to finally figuring out that together they make sense. Their story had me laughing out loud on several occasions, screaming in frustration a time or two, and turning the thermostat down a few times as well. This is the first time I’ve read Shannyn Schroeder but it won’t be the last because I thoroughly enjoyed this fun and complex story.

I don’t even know where to start with Quinn. I like Quinn, she’s a high school teacher who likes to plan her life and isn’t very spontaneous. She keeps to herself with the exception of her sister and a close friend and she doesn’t date much. She’s divorced and her ex is still hanging around from time to time.
Ryan….sigh….at times I wanted to pluck him out of the book and set him up with a couple of my single friends. He’s smart, sexy, funny and ambitious. The downside, he’s also a wee bit controlling and he can hold a grudge. But, I love the way he set out to be more than a friend to Quinn by helping her cross off the items on her list. It was also great to see how indignant he could be on her behalf.

These two have major chemistry yet their friendship is really strong. I can understand Quinn’s reluctance to become sexually involved with Ryan because she didn’t want to lose the friendship if things go badly. I found myself easily annoyed with both of them throughout the book when they were trying to stay away from each other because it was so easy to see they were meant to be. I enjoyed watching them dance around each other and I especially loved their friends and family both telling them how stupid they were. The thing with this book is while Quinn and Ryan are the major players; the other characters were equally important and interesting. The interplay between them all reminded me of some of my all time favorite television sitcoms because it didn’t matter who the “star” of the show was, it was the chemistry between the cast that made it so good.

I have some small issues with this book which affect its rating from me. One is the animosity between Ryan and his brother Colin. It was such a big part of the book yet we never really knew exactly what happened and I found that a little frustrating. It made Ryan look like an absolute jerk at times so I would have liked to have known more about the situation that caused the riff. I’m hoping when Colin gets his story we’ll know more about his situation. Secondly was the whole rapist targeting women in the pubs and bars story line. It came up but it went nowhere and I’m pretty sure I know who was behind them but again we were kind of left hanging. It was never settled and those are the kinds of things that drive me nuts. Lastly, the ending seemed very rushed to me. After all the build up and all of the turmoil these two went through, I expected a much bigger ending. It wasn’t bad; it just was kind of anticlimactic.

More Than This is a great romantic comedy that is easy to enjoy. All of the characters are engaging and easy to like. Shannyn Schroeder has a great voice and the words flowed easily making this a very enjoyable story. I’m looking forward to the next story in this series!

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