Swoon at Your Own Risk by Sydney Salter

Polly Martin has no problem attracting guys. Her problem lies in keeping them. In the last year alone she has won and lost Jack, Gareth, Sawyer, Hayden, and Kurt. Some of them were very brief relationships (does hooking up on a trip constitute dating?) and some were a little longer. The main thing they all had in common was that Polly chose to emulate whatever her current guy was interested in. Thus landing her a summer job working under Sawyer at a lowly cowboy-themed water park, unsure of what she really wants, unsure of who she really is, and swearing off guys.

On top of all her dating drama, Polly worries about the fact that her mother has to take a part time job as a food angel to help pay the bills, her grandmother (the love advice columnist Miss Swoon) is moving in with them, and her decimated relationship with her father and little sister. Even with all this going on, Polly still manages to catch the eye of geek turned hottie Xander Cooper. Will she be able to wrestle her own issues into submission so she can enjoy Xander or will Polly simply retreat and hide?

Swoon at Your Own Risk is an odd little story that jumps around a lot. Not only do you jump from stories about ex-boyfriend #1 to ex-boyfriend #5, but there is also some seriously extra nonsense. There was so much drama going on between family members, friends, and co-workers that I was having trouble keeping up. Many of the characters I thought were minor, turned out to be pretty important to understand the plotline and then others that were given some serious spotlight fizzled.

The writing was fine and I really did enjoy a) the column entries from Miss Swoon, b) the blog articles from a co-worker (I've only seen a blog used effectively in one other book, Stalker Girl), and c) the poetry-like snippits from Xander's journal. All of these pieces added depth to an otherwise shallow story. I have to admit that many of the events seem improbable at best. I honestly can't believe that someone can get so many "extra chances" to improve performance at a job. Sorry.

In general, this was a fluffy read that was only mildly enjoyable. If you like drama and gossip, this book is good for that, but not really much else.

This book was graciously provided by Around the World Tours.