I have start this on good note. I enjoyed the characters in this series. I could see these being novels. I liked the idea behind the series and the family dynamic. Those are what kept me coming back. The things that didn't do anything for me were the repetitive types of characters as hero and heroine, the same general issue between man and woman, the same sexual encounter between the main characters throughout the series, the hinted at issues but intold stories, and thecomplete non-ending to the series. It was not finalized. There was no conclusion. Is there another book out there somewhere? I was provided with the ARC of Vicente for a frank and honest review. Vicente by Melissa Schroeder is about the last of the Santini brothers falling for a woman, and the last in the series The Santinis. It is sad when a series comes to an end, and I guess at some point they all do or should, otherwise they end up being books that are former shadows of what you started reading and were so entranced by.Vince is what is known as the last man standing, romantically that is. His brothers have all bitten the dust and found the women of their dreams and for a while it seems as if the love bug has passed him by. That is, until he comes face to face with Julianna Andrews. Jules is the girl he fell in love with at school, the girl who married his best friend, the girl he walked away from.This was a short story and it felt like that because everything seemed to happen so quickly. Now the four books in this series are all about the same length, but this one just felt a whole lot shorter. I had an uncorrected ARC for review, and there were a few things that grabbed me and pulled me out of the story, but they were only minor things like the impatiens being called impatient for example.Courtesy of Mama Santini, whose story I would love to read, Vince is reintroduced to Jules. She is invited to dinner with the rest of the now expanded and growing Santini clan. Jules knows the boys from childhood and she has happy memories of that time and the stories she recounts are a glimpse into the past, and you can see that they guys haven’t changed all that much except for the fact that they have grown and become handsome and sexy men. The attraction between her and Vince is immediate, but unfortunately while Vince has been out of the picture, a now dead husband did a number on her, to the point of nearly killing her, before he killed himself and she isn’t really interested in a relationship or sex. Most of this only comes out towards the end and it could have been a bigger part of the story as the only effect this seems to have had on Jules is that she doesn’t want to get married ever again. She also seems too well adjusted (if that is possible) for someone who was so abused and nearly killed. Vince also didn’t really have to work too hard to get Jules into a relationship and this is where the length of the book, had it been longer, would have allowed for further development of this relationship and we could have seen both Vince and Jules working harder at the relationship. Their under the covers action is hot and sexy and I loved Vince for taking it the way he did with Jules. It made me appreciate the man even more!Vince being Vince did all of the right things and said all of the right things and Jules became as entranced with him as she had been when they were at school. I think the hardest thing for Vince to cope with was the fact that his former friend had been such a dirt bag. It also seemed that until he met Jules again he actually also believed a few of the things he had heard about her from no other than her dirt bag, now dead husband! I couldn’t believe that he even thought this for even a second, because he knew her and should have known that she wasn’t like that. It seems that everyone else knows about Jules and her tough time of it, before Vince does. Mama and Papa Santini have sort of guessed, Maryanne knows something and her brother Jesse who turns up also knows a whole heap more. Vince is sort of the last to know. When he does find out he can put a few things together about his former friend Mike. What I liked in this story was that we got to see Mama and Papa Santini on their home turf so to speak and it is quite amusing how Mama Joey still manages to get things done with the help of her husband, even when her kids aren’t talking to her because they don’t want to face an inquisition from her. Papa Santini’s intervention on behalf of Joey was fun and you can tell she is not averse to a little bit of bribery to get what she wants and she knows how to get what she wants. No wonder the boys are also so good at getting what they want, with a little help from Mama of course!I liked reading about Vince and Jules but it just seemed as if it just all went to plan with the only hitch being rather too quickly overcome. As mentioned Jules was too calm and reasonable about everything and I just thought that there needed to be something more, to make her a more in depth character, so that we could see how she really was affected by everything and also by Vince. I really hope that there are offshoots of this series because I want to read about the Santini parents and MJ’s brothers. A nice end to the Santini series. Well done Ms. Schroeder.
What do You think about Vicente (2013)?
The Santini's are great. Loved all of them!!!!
—claudiadeak
I love Vince's book but where's the epilogue!
—alternatives
