Skinny Dipping Mass Market Paperback – Bargain Price, January 2, 2008

I started to read this book in paperback quite a while ago. I really loved it, but I misplaced the book and never found it again. I decided to purchase the Kindle edition so that I cannot lose it again. I wish Ms. Brockway would write more present days books like this one.

Her books are usually fun, but this one was just a slog with an unappealing heroine. I had a hard time finishing it. This one just didn't do it for me.

This was a good story, not so much a romance, but a fell-good family story; kind of like watching a romantic family movie where opposites attract. Mimi has some issues of abandonment in her past that makes her careless for decision making moment. She hates making hard decisions that could affect her life or others in any significant way. The only really important thing for her is the family vacation spot, because that is where she spends her most memorable life moments. Then she meets the hero, he is not just an overachiever, but a perfectionist with a phobia of dirt and unorganized spaces. However, he is also very charming and loves his only child very much, even when said child is very rude to his father. The relationship between this two, father and son, is one of the most interesting parts of the book, and the reasons of the conflict are well examined in the story, but it all boils down to a big lack of communication between the two and a selfish overprotective mother who converted her child into a science experiment she needed to make perfect. To really understand all of this you have to read the book, it is a good interesting topic that will have you thinking a lot about love and excesses. Can a good thing like love become bad for a child? when do we say too much of a good thing is detrimental instead of constructive? Read the book and you will see what I am talking about. Now, the relationship between Mimi and Mr.Perfection is funny and romantic, but in a mature-couple kind of way. It is not a book about people falling in love, it is about people finding themselves and finding love when they less thought they will. It is about family and love and all type of emotions, but in a funny and heart-warming way. On the bad side, it is not fast paced, the romantic interactions are not what you expect in a romance novel, and the characters could be too out-there or too bland for some readers. Read it if you want a fanny time with something more than a romance.

When she was still a child, Mimi Olson's father had dropped her off at the family cottage system and vanished. Now, thirty years later, she still clings to that set of vacation bungalos and cabins. The Olson family is largely matriarchial, and while Mimi is too young to be the official ruler, she plays a key role in holding the family together--and in maintaining the status quo with an ongoing family vacation site that has endured through generations. Still, with lake property commanding huge premiums, can the Olson family really afford to keep up the place--or will Mimi find herself abandoned once more?Joe Tierney knows he failed his son--a genius with no social skills who's built a monstrosity on the shores of a small lake. He does his best to make up for his failures--but his son seems always to pose him tests he's sure to fail. When Joe decides to visit his son, he doesn't mind the distraction a sexy (and naked because she was skinny dipping) woman poses. In fact, he's quickly fascinated by the female who seems to understand a lot more about what's going on than he would have guessed.Mimi recognizes the attraction, but she's never let herself be anything but independent. A brief affair with Joe would be fine, but she's got to draw the line. The problem is, can she trust herself to keep her promise or will she start to depend on a man who has already proven himself as unreliable as her long-vanished father?Author Connie Brockway creates a fascinating, damaged character in Mimi Olson. Equally damaged, and even more fascinating is Joe's son, Prescott. By accident, Mimi sticks Prescott with a dog, opening new possibilities for social contact to the reclusive genius. Mimi's psychological problems, caused by her father's desertion, cause her to intentionally go through life without goals. Can the possibility of losing her cherished beach home wake her up to her potential?Brockway throws a lot at the reader--psychological issues, conflict based on misunderstanding (Joe falsely accuses Mimi of taking advantage of Prescott and believes she has misled him about her background and wealth), the question of whether to sell the family vacation site, the role of dogs in a largely human household, and a reclusive genius. To these she adds some truly funny situations and witty dialogue. I would have liked to see a bit more integration of the conflicts keeping Joe and Mimi apart. Although I didn't get this, Brockway's strong writing kept me invested in the characters (although I have to say, I didn't really care that much whether the vacation home, Chez Ducky, was saved or not).

I love all everything of Connie Brockway's, but this has to be my favourite. The hero and heroine are so different. They are both stubborn and set in their ways, and it's really easy to identify with them.