Mai Tai'd Up (The Cocktail Series)

Like Boone's Farm wine -sweet but lacking the kick of the first three Cocktails. The story is sweet but is slow to form and has none of the witty banter or page turning thrills I have loved from Clayton. Sorry Alice- this one missed the boat.

I really liked the other three books. Wallbanger and the third book were my favorite but this one just seemed so fake, forced and unbelievable. I really did like how the characters developed or interacted. I was very disappointed. I liked how there was the connection with the original characters but the writing seemed so much different than the last books.

3.5 Stars

Readers should not expect a repeat performance of Wallbanger with each subsequent story in Alice Clayton's COCKTAIL series. Sure, each story is wrought with humor and sexual angst, eccentric, refreshing characters and a quirky romance. But they all deviate from the previous books in their own unique way and Mai Tai'd Up is no exception.

Mai Tai'd Up introduces us to former pageant queen, Chloe Patterson, who's just jilted her groom-to-be, rebelled against everything her snob of a mother has molded her to be and she's bolted from her home town. She finds herself in her father's vacation home in Monterey, California with nothing but time to start her life over. It's here that she meets the local veterinarian, Dr. Lucas Campbell, and the two fall into an easy friendship over their love of animals.

This story is much more than a blooming romance. In fact, romance takes a huge backseat in this story to a number of other plot themes. Human issues like animal abuse. Family issues. Friendship. Above all else, this is a story about one woman's journey of finding her true self after she's spent her entire twenty-something years living the life projected upon her by other people. It's Chloe's story of self-discovery, of planting her own roots and building her own life from the ground up. It's also about friendships, building true relationships with people that genuinely enjoy each other's company and hold common interests, and not just pairing off with the people that look best on paper. It's beneath the surface of this course of events that a potential romance simmers.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I found the storyline completely intriguing and entertaining and undoubtedly funny, as expected. The characters are magnetic, their chemistry evident, their quirks fun, their dynamic and banter completely absorbing. Mai Tai'd Up is not as spicy as previous Clayton books, the sexual escapades typical in the rest of the series not as evident here. The focus isn't even entirely on the budding relationship between the beauty queen and the good doctor, as the romantic aspect of the plot is secondary, in my opinion, to Chloe's own journey. And I appreciated that. I got it. I may have longed for a bit more romance, a bit more sexual tension, some more of the action Alice Clayton has been known to deliver, but this installment in the series holds a believability, a realness that previous books lacked. All in all, a really enjoyable addition to this series.

I really have mixed feelings about this installment in the series. The others have been great, but this one was just fraught with weird problems. Maybe 2.5 stars are in order, but no more.

Chloe is not particularly endearing as a main character. I got SO sick of the word 'fudge" I wanted to puke. She is definitely not mature enough to be getting married, but the way she goes about getting out of it is cruel and childish.

Then we meet the yummy ginger vet. He seems like a great guy until he turns into a complete douche! He actually leaves Chloe in the middle of a date with no way to get home? And we're supposed to be sympathetic of this guy when he shows up later at her house?! No, no, no. He needed a HUGE earful, not a bunch of sweet kisses!

Parts of the book were good, and a lot of it seemed like a nice, sweet innocuous story, but the way the author stuck them into some weird 1950's time warp was beyond annoying. They simply did NOT act like 2 people in their 20's at all. Chickie Baby?!! Come on! That's not cute, it's just revolting.

The parts about the pitt bulls were nice sometimes, but even that got preachy and unrealistic. Enough!

I'm not sorry I read it, but I am glad it was from the library. It definitely didn't come up to the standards set by her other books. Better luck next time, AC.