Reviews

Constant Craving: Book One by Tamara Lush

lmiller's review

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emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

jesbruno's review

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4.0

Constant Craving by Tamara Lush is an erotic romance that will set your Kindle on fire. As this was my first book by this author, I was not disappointed for wanting to read this book. Justine Lavoie is the publisher of the St. Augustine Times, this newspaper has been slowly going under and Justine is looking for an investor but she wasn’t expecting it to be her ex. It’s been 15 years since Rafael Menendez has seen his ex, Justine. He has a proposition for her he will save her newspaper if she spends the month with him. What will Justine do to save her family’s legacy?

Second chance romances are my favorite genre and this was fantastic. The back in forth from Justine and Rafael was really enjoyable to read; you didn’t know what the other one was going to say next. The writing was really good and boy those bedroom scenes were HOT!

midnightrose_reads's review

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emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

One of my favorite second chance romances!

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lindas_bookstoread's review

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5.0

I am volunteering to leave a review for an ARC of this book. This is a tragic love story. Two people, madly in love, forced apart by a family member who does not appreciate or like Rafael. Justine, at the same time, was dealing with a highly emotional issue. Finally, a time comes, when Rafael can come back into Justine's life. Can they find their way back to one another, or do they have to tragically pull apart once again? This is a very emotional, highly charged romance. I loved every last paragraph!

nadenetotallyaddictedtoreading's review

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3.0

What measures would you take to save your business? Would you sleep with your ex to save your family legacy? Well, Justine Lavoie faced this dilemma. Justine is the publisher for the Times a well-established newspaper in the city of St. Augustine. Unfortunately, it is plagued with financial difficulties forcing her to seek a bailout from an equity firm. It so happens that the firm, which chose to invest in the newspaper, her ex Raphael Menendez de Aviles recently purchased it. Now Justine faces her biggest challenge coming to terms with her past while trying to save her family legacy.

The story told from Justine’s POV provided insight into her current and past feelings for Raphael. It is clear she never stopped loving him as such accepting his proposal of spending a month with him in exchange for him helping her business was not a hard feat. However, will she be able to walk away at the end of the thirty days as she did fifteen years ago?

I became absorbed in Justine’s life. I may not have agreed with some of her actions, but her motives were clear. I think that having the story told from her perspective helped, as I was privy to her thoughts and feelings. Sometimes I sympathized with her then next I wanted to shake her. Why would she allow him to treat her that way? I know she wanted to save her paper, and she never stopped loving Raphael but no woman worth her salt should allow any man to treat her like a whore no matter the circumstances.

I found Raphael cold and distant, and as a result, I had a hard time connecting to him. It would have been great to get things from his perspective. It appears revenge motivated his actions, but was it because Justine walked away ending their relationship or did it go deeper? One thing that came out in all of this was Raphael’s fear of having his heart broken once again. Despite this, I still did not understand who he was as an individual.

These two frustrated me at times. They kept blaming each other for their breakup, but never tried to discuss the issues that led to the demise of their relationship. I kept wondering what could have caused the break up seeing they love for each other was so deep. My frustration with them increased when the reasons for their relationship ending came to light. If only they had communicated with each other, then they could have avoided their current situation.

I like the fact the story went back to their days in college providing insight in to how their love for each other developed. These were the scenes that convinced me of their love for each other. A love that intense would definitely stand the test of time. Due to the slow pacing I had a hard time getting into the story at first (the narration did not help) eventually things picked up and I hoped these two will get it right the second time around.

Narration
Unfortunately, the narration did not work for me. I tried listening at 1.5x and the narrator sounded like someone pumped on helium. I ended up listening at1.20x. At this speed, she sounded flat, and the narration had no life. Her male and female voices were distinct; however for Raphael the Spanish accent was non-existent. Her pronunciation of the Spanish words needs work.
What saved this for me was the fact that read and listened to the book. If I had to rely on the audio solely, I would have given upon the book.

Conclusion/Recommendation
Overall, this was a good story, I am not sure I would listen to more from the narrator but I would definitely read more from this Tamara Lush.
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