{Review} Hot Coco by Cindy McDonald (Unbridled #2)

From Goodreads: 

HOT: Coco Beardmore
NOT: Coco’s calamities
HOT: Mike West’s fantasies
NOT: Mike’s reality

That’s right, Coco Beardmore is sizzling hot and she’s landed in Mike West’s lap. The problem is Coco’s middle name is chaos! Her driving skills are a real bang–into Mike’s horse trailer, and her sultry seduction will set the room on fire–the kitchen that is.

What’s worse are her Thoroughbreds ability to mimic their owner’s habit of screwing things up. It’s enough to drive a normally calm and collected Mike West to the very edge.
But Mike’s not the only one having problems with women. His father Eric has taken on more than he can chew, and he’s about to get spit out by two women: one that he’s in love with and one that thinks he’s in love with her.

Oh yeah, things are hot around Westwood Thoroughbred Farm… and someone’s about to get burned!

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I have some mixed feelings about this second novel in the Unbridled series.  First of all, the writing was good and the mystery aspect of the novel, once it began, was also quite interesting.  However, the overuse of adjectives and words like “naked” didn’t do much for me as a reader, especially as the focus always seemed to be on the buxom blonde, Coco. The characters all seemed obsessed with sex, as well, and as that’s not something I enjoy in my novels, it somewhat put me off as I read.

Truth be told, I wasn’t really sure where the story itself was going. The first portion of the novel was all about Coco and Mike, and then suddenly she’s out of the picture and it’s about Margie and Keith. Then, it’s about Coco and Tom… and I wasn’t really sure where the plotline was truly headed, who the story was really targeting. Based on the synopsis and the beginning of the novel, I would have said it’s about Coco and Mike, but by the end, I think the story was actually about doing the right thing, focusing on Keith teaching people to read.

Overall, I think it’s well-written, but I’m not still not sure exactly where the plot itself was going, or if I perhaps missed something important along the way. Truthfully, I was hoping for another mystery novel, like the first novel in the series, Deadly.com, but there wasn’t really anything but life and awkward relationships in this one.  Two stars.

Acorn Publishers was extemely gracious in allowing me to read a copy of this novel, via Netgalley.