A Foolish Flirtation by Alice Coldbreath

A Foolish Flirtation is book one in the Reversal of Fortune series by Alice Coldbreath. To be completely honest, I struggled through this book. I had never read this author’s work before, so I was excited to discover someone new to me. A Foolish Flirtation is touted as a standalone; however, this book is apparently a spin-off of A Bride for the Prizefighter. Jeremy Vance was a memorable side character in that book, and he is now the hero. Coldbreath includes characters from previous stories without much explanation or background. I felt like a hungry waif pressing my nose against a bakery window, looking for an unattainable hot bun. I was missing something vital. But more than that problem, at its core, the storyline is based on a painful shared history between Jeremy Vance and Emmeline Ballentine. Unfortunately, the execution left me confused instead of engaged. I found the dialogue to be too vague at times and the banter between the hero and heroine difficult to follow. It was also too long, with wordy passages about redecorating and wordy dialogue with Jeremy Vance’s son. I also missed having a steady villain. I really can not recommend this book.