Hi, Thanks for your honesty. I must admit that No one likes Joe. (Might be the point I was going for) He is actually based on my real life brother-in-law and he is just that way. He's explained more as the story progresses. YWO reviewers have also picked on Brandon alot but that's okay because without reading any further he may seem "cliched" but he works for the entire story.
Marie Loves Brandon's dog and it was set up, before that scene, that she spoils him every chance she gets so why wouldn't Brandon ask her to "dog sit"? Because it's rude? or because he doesn't care about his dog? A bit nit-picky if you ask me.
I'm actually waiting for feed-back from the Harlequin Editor right now and she may very well expect me to change Joe's personality but until then I'll leave him exactly as he really is!
Lori