The View from the Top
Ratings1
Average rating4
15
Ratings1
Average rating4
When a driven businesswoman from Boston collides with a free-spirited artist on a Vermont mountainside, they share a memorable—and steamy—night, but life soon pits them against each other over the fate of a family business.
Emily Janssen prefers to play it safe. At thirty-five, she’s still working at the inn her grandmothers own while dreaming of a day when she’s able to support herself fully with her art. And while her friends have all hiked to the summit of the mountain in their hometown of Crescent Falls, Vermont, something has always held Emily back.
Diana Devlin has already made it to the top. Well, almost. She’s this close to securing the promotion that will put her in line to take over as CEO of her family’s hotel chain when her father retires. Everything is going to plan until an unexpected run-in with an alluring artist on a mountainside throws Diana off course, resulting in one of the hottest nights either she or Emily have ever experienced.
Emily walks away from their rendezvous feeling inspired to channel some of Diana’s confidence and finally chase her dreams. For Diana, it’s a reminder that with the right woman, she is capable of wanting more than one night.
But their growing passion threatens to burn them both when they learn that the hotel Diana’s in town to buy is none other than Emily’s grandmothers’ beloved inn. It’s Emily’s home, and no big city outsider—not even Diana—is going to take it away from her.
Will the view from the top be worth the climb, or will they both have farther to fall?
Reviews with the most likes.
3.5 stars
This seemed like one of those books where the beginning and end were really good, but the middle was bad. During the middle, it was very ‘go-to-the-place-do-the-thing'-esc. The friend group and main couple would go do ‘x' and instead of using the scene to develop relationships within the group or romance; it would be over within three pages almost.
I really wished to see more of the friend group. Tom seemed like the spokesperson for the group, which is realistic but leaves out everyone else. Like Drew, I can't tell you a single thing about him except that he's Vietnamese, and he's an electrician. The only other friend we get to see often is Alex, but even then she's stretched a little thin. No one in the group seemed to have a distinguishable personality.
The romance wasn't all that convincing. In fact, whenever Diana and Emily had a conversation, it sounded like dialogue from a kids' movie or two aliens trying to appear human. Their relationship wasn't steady in the slightest. Conversations fell flat; feelings seemed artificial. Diana seemed more fleshed-out than Emily who seemed to go out of character for plot reasons, not because she arrived at that conclusion herself.
I did like their characters though: I could relate to Emily's fear and Diana's anxiety, but their chemistry and romance seemed very lacking in depth. However, I think what really bothered me was how it was written dual-pov: a thought would go through Emily's head written in full, only for it to be repeated word-for-word later in conversation in either a few pages to Diana or in the next chapter.
The idea for this book is a good one. I think the location of a small, progressive town draped in beautiful scenery is amazing. Maybe it would've done better as a novella or a straight up erotica since the only scenes written well were the spicy ones.
Thx for reading
