"47 Men" by Robin Maguire - spoilers

[TarinaJ]

Jupiter’s father is in a catatonic state as a result of losing his wife during a horrible accident. Jupiter decides to try to shock him out of his catatonia by sleeping with 50 guys in one year. However, her plans are derailed when she meets Rooster, #47.

I had high expectations of this book based on the reviews so far, but this story fell flat for me. At one point Jupiter states, “It's kind of empowering getting to be the one in charge. A whole new world of female dominance.” However, she’s not trying to sleep with 50 guys in a year for female empowerment, she’s just trying to shock her father out of his catatonic state; which just seems ridiculous - why can’t she just SAY she slept with 50 guys to achieve the same shock value she’s looking for? (Because then she never would have gone to a cock fight to find #47, never would have met Rooster, and there would be no story - got it.) All I could think was this chick needs SERIOUS grief counseling.

At no point did I connect with the main characters. Jupiter’s decision making processes throughout the book are questionable at best (has no one ever heard of 9-1-1?) She comes across as a spoiled rich girl and Rooster came across as a stereotypical southern boy (I’ve lived in the south and I don’t know anyone that drinks mint juleps). The last 50 pages or so were the most interesting with a lot of back story which should have been included in the middle or even the beginning.

I think as Robin Maguire matures as an author her books will be superb stories. She definitely has a distinct style of writing which at times was both eloquent and emotionally engaging. While 47 Men has a lot of potential, it just didn’t do it for me.