Coke Solomon has lived a full life.

He’s a retired army drill sergeant, so he is more than used to getting his way.

And if he can’t have it his way? Well, let’s just say that’s never happened before…

At least not until Cora Maldonado walks into his life, demanding he fall in line, or she’ll find a way to make his life hell.

He finds out fast that Cora marches to the beat of her own drum, and a lot of times that drum takes her farther away rather than closer to where he feels she needs to be.

He can’t stand it.

He wants her, and he has to have her.

It doesn’t matter that she’s twenty years younger than him, and has a father that would rather see him dead than have his baby girl anywhere near him. Nor does it matter that his ex-wife is highly offended that she’s been replaced with a much younger woman.

Despite the odds stacking against them, he’ll fight for what he wants.

His ex-wife, her father, and their age difference be damned.

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Lani Lynn Vale is married to the love of her life that she met in high school. She fell in love with him because he was wearing baseball pants. Ten years later they have three perfectly crazy children and a cat named Demon who likes to wake her up at ungodly times in the night. They live in the greatest state in the world, Texas. She writes contemporary and romantic suspense, and has a love for all things romance. You can find Lani in front of her computer writing away in her fictional characters world…that is until her husband and kids demand sustenance in the form of food and drink.

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Single, sort-of alpha a-hole dad meets quirky, virgin animator that’s usually seen as just strange. Add in a ten year age gap, a crazy ex-wife, a failed kidnapping, and someone’s aversion to relationships, and you have the recipe for disaster… or happily ever after.

Ain’t Doin’ It was a sweet story with Cora’s weirdness drawing you in as easily as she draws her characters. Although Coke is a single dad, his daughter is closer to Cora’s age (she’s in her early twenties, Coke’s daughter is 17), allowing them to bond more like friends than mother/daughter. Cora is compassionate, loving, and a little more reserved due to her upbringing. She doesn’t express herself well in person, so she pours herself and her feelings into her artwork. But she ain’t weak that’s for sure. Coke’s desire to stay single is because of a crazy ex-wife, who’s seriously off her rocker. It doesn’t happen all at once, but through Coke’s resolve, Cora worms her way into his heart little by little (like we all knew she would, I mean seriously.)

Why is this book 4 stars and not 5? For a couple reasons. One, the blurb is seriously misleading. The age gap is not that big. I believe it’s only ten years. Am I being picky because of this? Maybe, but blurbs lead you to read the book and this one doesn’t accurately depict the novel. Two, this book was mostly fluff. Sure, there was drama, but it moved past everything so quickly you didn’t really have time to comprehend what was happening. There was just a lot of sex. The oomph I wanted just seemed to be missing.

Despite these, this book deserves every star I gave it. It’s well written, and cute. There’s also the mental illness factor. I’ve only read 2 Lani novels (I know! Shame!) and both have had, what seems to me, like well researched problems. They weren’t thrown out there for the hell of it, but added another dynamic to the characters. There comes a sort of normalization with adding this layer. They characters aren’t crazy, and aren’t made out to be crazy, and they don’t make excuses for themselves, but have identified their problems and learn to lead well rounded lives with them. And their significant others try to understand them as best as possible, even though it takes experiencing it to truly understand it. It helps create not-so-perfect characters living with things that are common, yet taboo to talk about.

Overall, this will not be my last Lani book.

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