Review: All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins

All I Ever Wanted
Author: Kristan Higgins
Published: 2010
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: N/A
Rating: B-

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Kristan Higgins’ books seem to straddle the line between contemporary romance and chick-lit. All I Ever Wanted is one of her stand alone novels, which definitely leans more toward the latter.

It’s always a bad idea to date your boss. No one knows this better than Callie Grey who has just been blind-sided by Mark, her boss and ex-lover, announcing his engagement. Callie has been in love with Mark for years and has always held onto the hope that he would eventually feel the same way. Having that dream crushed in the middle of a work day and on her 30th birthday, followed by the announcement that the fiancée is coming to work for the company is all Callie can take. Fleeing the building with the excuse of needing to renew her driver’s license, she proceeds to have a very public meltdown in the middle of the DMV. In the following weeks, things do not get better for Callie. The fiancée has made it her personal goal to torture Callie at work; Ian, the new veterinarian, might think Callie’s stalking him; and all the dates she’s gone on in an effort to get over Mark have been disastrous.

This was a fun contemporary romance. Callie was a little annoying though. She seemed too perfect to be believable. Who goes out of their way to offer homemade scones to their ex-boyfriend’s new love bunny? Callie was just too sweet and without any real character flaws to find her character engaging. After awhile, it just got old seeing her able to make everyone into her new BFF. Also, because of how sweet Callie was, it made some of the fights she had with Ian, the hero, seem forced.

Ian was what really made this book enjoyable. There’s nothing better than a quiet and shy hero. What’s not to love about a guy who’s so shy he hides in his office from a group of little girls? I also loved how the relationship between him and his ex-wife was portrayed. It wasn’t full of animosity and the ex-wife wasn’t shown as a raging bitch. It was a nice change of pace to see a hero be on relatively good terms with an ex.

Higgins also does a great job of writing pets into the book. The two dogs involved in the plot felt just as much like side characters as Mark and the fiancée did.

I would recommend this to fans of Julie James and Jennifer Cruise.