Preston, as he prefers to be called, has built a fortune and mislaid the connection to his daughter along the way. Her abduction has not only caused him the anguish associated with losing a child, but also forced him to admit his neglect of her emotional needs. He's angry -- with himself and his ex-wife who he believes is endangering his daughter.

Shut Up and Kiss Me has all the familiar stereotypes of small towns and what women will do to get away from them, the road-trip adventure, mistaken assumptions and a hero who hates himself for wanting the heroine. The book was redeemed, in my eyes, from relying on those stereotypes to completely carry the plot by the reasons for, and events surrounding, the kidnapping. There was also in the heroine a sense of honesty about her previous activities I liked.

Unfortunately these aspects of the story weren't enough to pull me in wholeheartedly. The characterizations, both of the main and secondary characters, were a little too predictable to give the book sustainable tension and the pacing occasionally lagged, making me want to skim rather than read.

However, having said all of that, I still quite liked the story. Despite the seriousness of the kidnapping plot there was often a light-hearted tone to the writing that lifted the story, never allowing it to become maudlin. Ms. Kincaid has a really nice contemporary voice, and it kept me reading all the way to the end. There was only one love scene I categorize as ‘spicy' to be on the safe side, since it hovered on the edge of explicit.

Overall rating:
Sensuality rating: Very sensual

Reviewer: Moe
May 19, 2010