Real Men Don't Break Hearts, by Coleen Kwan

Title: Real Men Don't Break Hearts
Author: Coleen Kwan
Publication date: December 2012
Publisher: Entangled Publishing (Bliss imprint)
Genre: contemporary romance
Length: 235 pages
Source: review copy from publisher

Description: Ally Griffin is horrified to learn her new landlord is none other than the infuriating playboy Nate Hardy—the man she blames for getting her jilted at the altar six years ago. Plus, now her ex-fiancé is back in their hometown of Burronga, Australia, to marry his beautiful new bride…for real this time. Everybody’s treating Ally with kid gloves, as though she’s still heartbroken, but she’s just fine, thank you very much.

Nate Hardy is tired of his high-flying city career and bachelor lifestyle and is looking for something more real. The last thing he needs is to find himself undeniably attracted to Ally, the woman with whom he never saw eye-to-eye. But is he even capable of what Ally wants and deserves?

As Ally tries to pull her life out of the rut it’s fallen in, she doesn't count on Nate stirring up her emotions. A short-term fling with the resident bad boy is practically irresistible, but only if she can guard her heart…

My thoughts: Real Men Don't Break Hearts is a light read with interesting, believable characters and a happy ending, 'Real Men Don't Break Hearts' was a nice book to read over the break. 

We're first introduced to Ally as she's working in her struggling gift shop. She took it over when her gran, the founder, had health problems, and now Ally wants to prove to everyone that she can be successful at running it, even though at the moment she's behind on her rent. We also meet Nate just as he's returning to Burronga and has bought the building from Ally's landlord. Ally is still mad at him for the way he acted when they were younger, and thinks it was his fault Seth (the ex-fiance) ditched her. 

I actually really liked Nate. He's been in Sydney, been very successful, and has changed a lot since he left his hometown, but he regrets a lot about how he acted when he was younger. He wants to fix some of that, and as the book goes on you get to see him finding ways to make amends and show to the townspeople that he really has changed. 

I liked Ally too, but not as much as Nate. I was as frustrated as she was that people kept assuming she was still in love with Seth - I think if I was her, I would have thrown something at someone. It's been years since that break up but lots of people kept trying to be sympathetic for how awful she 'must' have been feeling over Seth getting married there... and of course Ally doesn't care about that. I also got a bit frustrated towards the end of the book where she kept judging Nate based on how he used to act, despite spending plenty of time with him and seeing the person he's become. He would say something or do something, and she would take it wrong because of how the 'old' Nate was. 

Overall, I enjoyed Real Men Don't Break Hearts. The small town setting was nice, and something I could definitely relate to, and the characters and their growth over the story was believable. Overall, I give this book 7 stars. 

Author website here.

Buy it on Amazon here

~Ailsa