The Girl in the Comfortable Quiet by Susan Ward

This is fourth and final book in The Half She’ll Series. Read my reviews of the first three books here: Book 1, Book 2, Book 3.

The fourth and final book in The Half Shell Series finally has a title that I guess makes sense, but I still feel like meh about it.  Also, I’m not into the judgy looking chick on all four of these, but maybe that’s just my Chrissie issues rubbing off on the poor stock photo girl.

Ok, we get a twist at the end to make sure that Chrissie ends up with her shouldn’t but loves anyway man, Alan Manzone.  You see this coming from book one.  It’s one of the ways this series totally feels contemporary romance-ish.  I’m just so sorry that she does.  Can we just forget book four happens and live with a happy Chrissie/Neil situation?

• Neil isn’t perfect anymore!  I should put this in both the hate and love section because it finally makes him less “too good to be true.”  But I just so wanted someone to be a good person.  Or at least not suffer the way you realize Neil has this whole time.  It’s so sad for him after everything he goes through with Chrissie.  Let’s have a moment of silence for poor Neil.  … … … Thanks.
• Overall there is so much sex.  Not in a 50 Shades kind of way, but at one point in the books, someone comments that they haven’t had sex in like two days.  *gasp* *shudder*  *sarcastic eyebrow raise with sad head shake* Please people.  Least realistic part of the whole thing.  Even more so than the two rockers battling it out for one stuck up princess.
• After we’ve lived through Chrissie’s life in painstaking detail.  We fast forward to her forties for like a page and a half and the story ends.  Really?  I gave A LOT of time to this and you’re gonna do me like that?  That cuts me deep.

Ok, enough whining.

The series overall is actually pretty solid because, as I outlined before, I found it epically thought provoking:  What if I’m like Chrissie and don’t realize it?  Do we all end up living like her, taking when we need and not even realizing how awful we’re being?  How can you ever fully know a person?  Do we ever fully know ourselves?  Granted this series overlapped with my 31st birthday, so I was already in re-evaluating my life mode, but still.  It’s surprising to have what you expect to be a silly romance make you take stock of yourself.  Everyone is flawed.  It makes everything gritty and tangible.  It feels super embarrassing to admit that the other two books I read in the span of the week prior were to try and erase some of the aftershock from this one out of my system, and even that didn’t entirely work.  The book has to have something there if it leaves that much mark.

Overall, I’d say it’s worth a read.