Clint McCade and Sandy Kirk met during grade school. Because they've known each other for so long they're extremely close, but they've never been anything more than friends. After escaping their difficult upbringing they chose very different paths. Sandy is settled in Phoenix, running her own company producing & directing commercials and trying to move up socially into a respectable life. Clint became a skilled cameraman and travels the world filming movies and documentaries. One day he realizes that he's no longer enjoying his transient life and that the only time he's truly happy is when he's with Sandy. He heads to Phoenix to tell her that he loves her, but finds that Sandy has fallen for another guy. He hates the idea of losing her, but he wants her to be happy so he offers to help her overcome her low self-esteem so that she can land her man. Sandy quickly realizes that Clint is the only man she wants but she keeps it to herself because she thinks he's only playing a game to help her out. For them to have their HEA one of them will have to risk the friendship by being honest.
This book made me realize that I enjoy friends to lovers stories more in theory than in practice. In theory f-to-l stories are about two people who know each other well, both good and bad, falling in love. The stakes are automatically high because the couple is risking not only romantic disappointment, but an important friendship. In practice they often center around a Make Over or a Big Misunderstanding, both of which I strongly dislike. Body Language is the later type of story, with elements of the former, and I found it quite frustrating. Most of Clint and Sandy's issues could have been settled if they had just had one honest conversation on about page 20. Instead, one contrived situation after another drags things out for 200 pages. Even after they admit their true feelings they're both still holding back key information, which drags things out even more. Brockmann's writing is solid and both Clint and Sandy are likable, but I lost interest in the drama long before it was resolved.
I always try to read and evaluate the book that an author actually wrote rather than comparing it to the one I wish she had written. In this case that was difficult. The issues that Clint and Sandy face in the last 50 pages were the ones that were interesting to me. I couldn't help thinking that I would far rather have read a whole book exploring the fact that no matter how close they are or how much they love each other these two people still face some real challenges.
Grade: C+
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