Falling for the Mark is a novel by Dominique Davis.
Finished on: 29.5.2023
[I won this book in a LibraryThing Early Reviewer give-away.]

Plot:
Nicole and Maya are a mother-daughter con team, specialized in luring rich men into their trap. Their next target is recently widowed Eric. But Eric’s daughter Kennedy is vigilant and mistrusts Nicole and Maya, suspecting that something fishy is going on. Maya’s attempts to befriend Kennedy for the con’s sake quickly turn into actual chemistry between the two of them. But how can they ever become closer?

Falling for the Mark is a quick read with a good story idea, but the way it is told didn’t quite work for me: too many arguments the characters used were so obviously flawed that I could never get into their headspace and emotional state to really feel along with them.

I am always on the look-out for queer love stories, especially with protagonists of color as written by people of color. So I was excited to get my hands on Falling for the Mark. Particularly because I like heist stories and thought that this premise in particular could allow for some interesting moral conundrums with a touch of forbidden love.

And traces of that story are certainly there. But at the same time, I kept being irritated by arguments made by the characters. Like when Maya talks herself into the relationship with Kennedy because she is willing to risk her own heartbreak. That Maya’s eventual betrayal will also, probably, break Kennedy’s heart never seems to be part of her equation. Or when Kennedy talks herself into the relationship with Maya by arguing that their respective parents aren’t married yet, so they’re off scot free until the wedding which is all kinds of rational contortionism that they could and should have realized. But, I think, worst of all, was Kennedy’s decision to not tell her father about the con when she obtains actual proof of it. I can perfectly understand not wanting to involve the police, but telling her father and telling the police are not the same thing. I really don’t understand how she could possibly think that letting her father think his loyal fiancée left him in front of the altar is somehow better than telling him about the con.

And from a purely technical perspective, the narrative kept changing between present and past tense, and not in a way that made sense to me. More in a way that the spoke to a lack of editing. And while that may seem like me being a pedantic fault-finder, it really did distract me. I wanted it not to matter but I couldn’t help myself. Plus, the writing lacked rhythm, sticking with short sentences that gave the entire thing a clipped feeling. I’m in favor of short, clear sentences over convoluted ones for the most part (not that you’d necessarily know that from reading here), but it’s more important to know when to use what kind of sentence.

All of this kept me at a distance from the story. I liked both Maya and Kennedy and that they’re both queer in different ways. The sex scenes weren’t bad, either. But I just never felt emotionally connected to what was going on. And without that connection, any romance is doomed to fail.

Summarizing: could be more.