Interesting Blurbs, Lackluster Realities

  

• Twisted Love, Lily Knight
• Scottish Swag, Cristina Grenier
• Uncaged Hearts, Sloane Easton

There was a lot of potential for this story and the blurb was interesting. The reality, however, was quite disappointing. Characters were shallow and inconsistent, the writing was incredibly juvenile, and the wording is often cringe-worthy with it's cheese. The story itself isn't bad, it's just written in a way that I couldn't wait to finish, and not in a good way. With no actual build up for their relationship I didn't believe that they were actually falling for one another in any meaningful way. Lusty glances and most of their time apart does not a foundation build. The one steamy scene was fine, but by the time it actually happened I was bored with them as a couple so I just didn't care and skimmed it. The drama with the CM group was resolved mostly off screen (unsatisfying for the reader who spent a ton of pages reading about Tyrese and his interference), drama with the ex who wanted more was very high school, and the IRS stuff was a big deal but so little time was spent on it to then have a deus ex machina situation via the slimy Danny Smith...all in all, an underwhelming story.  2 stars.

The best part of the book is that there was a lot of getting to know one another before letting passion take them to bed.  All that information, though, was only between them and kind of paraphrased for the reader so what we know they know isn't what we know, if that makes sense.  I also liked that Willa Mae was feisty and stood up for herself, even if it meant forgoing the chemistry between them everyone could see was incendiary.  I wasn't as pleased with Niall's insistence that they give in because even though he would say that wasn't all that he wanted all we could see and read in his thoughts was that this was the most important thing.

The feelings that ran deeper took a while to surface and after they did there was no real meeting of the minds or hearts.  It felt like there was a juvenile "I'll be nice to you if you're nice to me" feeling all throughout their building and in the culmination of their relationship.  What seemed like fun banter before giving in then became something that was more stepping on toes when an ocean was between them.  I mean, Willa Mae has every right to wonder if he's going to put business over family if they might want to build one of their own.  Why should she be made to feel guilty for turning the mood of the phone call when he was the one to bite her head off for something that's valid?  And for him to say multiple times that he'll never make apology for how he chooses to live extends to not apologizing for hurting her feelings or making her feel like she has to walk on eggshells to avoid his temper.  Yeah, I'm not really believing in the true happiness and partnership of their relationship.

So to be honest here, I've read a couple of not-so-awesome books before this one and my opinion could have gone one of two ways:

1. This would seem awesome in comparison
2. I would have a low opinion anyway because I'm getting burned out by interesting blurbs and lackluster realities.

You can see that this fell into category 2.  Since I don't necessarily think that's fair, I rounded up on Amazon and Goodreads instead of down because I think this book, objectively, rates a 2.5 stars.

I was really excited for this book.  The premise sounded great and with a blasphemous parrot?  Yeah, we're looking at win central, you know?  Reality, however, wasn't as awesome.  The writing style was pretty aloof, separated, not moving.  In the last third of the book things got better, not only did things pick up the pace in every aspect of the relationship, but I could feel a bit more of what the characters were feeling.  Declan was the best out of the story for me.  His tender heart, obvious adoration and love for his daughter Katie, his confidence, and the way he accepted and liked himself all made for a complete person.  Someone I would like to know and could root for in his aspirations.  Katie was sweet and watching her come out of her shell was really great.  The parrot was a bit of a let-down.  He wasn't as funny or engaging with me as a reader at all, we just get to hear peripherally of his shenanigans and they're so vague I hardly care to know anymore.  Near the end he just sounded like a bitter harpy rather than an irreverent yet funny bird.  Ivan was a bit boring all the way through, unfortunately.  Overall, this story had a ton of potential but didn't really live up to all that I hoped.  2.5 stars.