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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
2.5 stars. This contemporary romance features a domestic abuse survivor on the run from her law enforcement ex and starts over again with her lumberjack of an ex-con neighbor (well, he's technically a blacksmith). All the content warnings, although I personally didn't find it too graphic.
The pacing was off for me. Things moved super fast with the romance -- it felt too fast given what the character had endured. The main character also moves in with an elderly woman and I overall enjoyed their dynamic, but the old lady just completely disappears in the middle of the novel and then pops back up at the end with gusto.
The pacing was off for me. Things moved super fast with the romance -- it felt too fast given what the character had endured. The main character also moves in with an elderly woman and I overall enjoyed their dynamic, but the old lady just completely disappears in the middle of the novel and then pops back up at the end with gusto.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Read a bit more like women’s fiction than romance since it really focused on the FMC’s experiences after DV. I really liked that the MMC realized he shouldn’t kill FMC’s ex because that’s not what she wanted and doing so would be taking her power away, something she experienced with the ex.
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book just did not do it for me. Although it started off very slow for me, there were parts of it that I liked and the steamy scenes were pretty good but overall it fell flat. It starts off with Uma coming to work for a crotchety old woman as her live in helper because she was running from someone and took any job she could. We later learn she left an extremely abusive relationship with her ex boyfriend who among other physical and mental abuses, covered her body in horrific tattoos. She's come to this small town because there's a doctor in town that will remove the tattoos for free for survivors of this type of abuse. She then meets Ivan, the grumpy next door neighbor to her employer and is immediately intrigued. They go on to form a very quick relationship and the book goes on from there basically how you would expect it to. My issue comes from their relationship. Uma has been horribly abused and is doing her best to get her life back together but then immediately falls for a guy she's known a couple weeks? She can't even look at herself in the mirror and has to have all the lights off when she changes or takes a shower but she was willing to bare herself to Ivan after spending a few nights with him when she hasn't even looked at herself? I really wish more time had elapsed before she jumped into this new relationship. At this point she has only had one treatment for her tattoo removal and hasn't discussed with anyone in her life what her ex did to her, let alone a therapist or some sort of mental health professional. I think the concept of this book was good but the author could have done a much better job with the execution.
slow-paced
I switched between the audiobook and ebook. The ebook ends at 66% just FYI.
This book is well written, but the material made it really tough to read.
Trigger warning for extreme domestic violence.
Trigger warning for extreme domestic violence.
It was a faster read than I thought. Like a third of my book was the preview for the next book, so I was surprised when it just ended. I think the romance was good, if too fast-paced the way these books tend to be. It's just hard to believe that someone going through everything they have would just fall in love that deeply so quickly.
A surprising story and my first from Adriana Anders.
I really like it and the story had several unexpected turns. It's not every day a romance author surprises me. From the larger than life hero to the heroine he's running from a past and ex-boyfriend so damn awful, this book had a bunch of elements I don't often see in stories. I want to call this book a fractured painting where some chapters were beautiful and some parts were haunting and dark but came together so well. I think that Uma is beautifully broken and Ivan is every woman’s favorite kind of book boyfriend. I will be continuing the series.
I really like it and the story had several unexpected turns. It's not every day a romance author surprises me. From the larger than life hero to the heroine he's running from a past and ex-boyfriend so damn awful, this book had a bunch of elements I don't often see in stories. I want to call this book a fractured painting where some chapters were beautiful and some parts were haunting and dark but came together so well. I think that Uma is beautifully broken and Ivan is every woman’s favorite kind of book boyfriend. I will be continuing the series.
4.5 stars
Really good debut novel, interesting characters, and ticked my "character on the run" box for the Ripped Bodice bingo card. I'll definitely be on the lookout for more by Anders.
Really good debut novel, interesting characters, and ticked my "character on the run" box for the Ripped Bodice bingo card. I'll definitely be on the lookout for more by Anders.