Rissa Brahm has a flawless writing style and it is obvious she not only writes well but also knows the importance of editing and revision before releasing her finished product. This reader found spelling and/or grammar errors were almost nonexistent in the novel, "Tempting Isabel." This reader applauds Brahm's character creation skills, while finding fault in that very same skill. This reader did finish the book, but admits it was a chore to do so - simply because Brahm did too good of a job in her creation of the apathetic Zack and pessimistic Isabel. This reader was more than weary of successful business man and love interest Zack James' repeated complaints concerning the apathy of his life and anger over any attributing his financial successes to luck instead of hard work by him, by the third chapter. While he does eventually woo and move on to a happily-ever-after phase with protagonist Isabel Ruiz by chapter fifty-four, this reader found the bombardment of so much negativity surrounding the two main characters a continual drain and felt no happiness over their finally choosing a life together. Rather, this reader simply felt relief that she had finished the book and could move on to other things. Brahm worked hard to give readers a story that could be viewed as original even though the over-all plot of 'boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy and girl finally have happily-ever-after' is not an original concept, but rather is one that many authors tell in their own unique fashion which then gives the reader a feel of originality. Others have commented on the use of cursing, particularly the over use of the 'F' bomb, and this reader finds she must agree. Often, it felt as if Brahm inserted swearing versus showing readers other descriptors to show the characters anger or anguish in various situations, which cheapened the story being told and was an easy way out. While this reader tends to agree with other reviewers that Brahm should not be called guilty of using tired, cliche phrases in her writing, she must also consider the easy way out of cursing in a situation as a cliched way to present that very same situation. However, the sex scenes offered were fairly powerful, erotic and at times sensual - even if Brahm slipped into some older descriptors such as Zack's "steel rod." After all, how many (new) ways can an author describe a male erection? Brahm presented the story with a fairly paced tone; she offered mysteries within mysteries and satisfactorily tied them up by books end. Other than character Stephanie Rine, each character presented was fairly three dimensional with good and bad personality traits - Stephanie happened to be a cliched and over-used character type that could have been better developed in this readers opinion. However, so much time was spent on developing the main characters poor opinions of themselves, that this reader followed suit and didn't care about them, either... perhaps if Brahm had introduced touches of humor into their various mishaps or low self-esteem issues, it might have made a difference for this reader. This reader does appluad Brahm for her creativity and personal storytelling ability and her attention to detail, but also found she simply did not care for the main characters negativity concerning their own personal views, so this reader will not be visiting the carefully crafted world of Paradise South, again. This book was freely recieved in exchange for an honest review. ** Review originally posted to Amazon reviews on July 28, 2016. **
