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A review by snaze6
Second Time Around by Alandra Knight
3.0
I really struggled to finish this book, and that is so not me - I hate to give up on a book. The premise of this book intrigued me, but the actual reading experience was meh at best. I had multiple issues with the book and want to emphasize this is my personal opinion, and even though this was not a book I enjoyed, you may love it. Many other people have given this books glowing 5 star reviews.
The story is written in a narrative style which my least favorite writing styles which I think makes it hard to feel any connection to the characters. For most of the book the POV bounces between Jaxson and Kellie, but somewhere around the 75% mark random other characters are telling the story. For example, we get a chapter from the boyfriend of one of Jason’s daughters. To have characters who haven’t been around but in the background all of a sudden telling the story - was just weird and distracting.
The story takes place over 18 years. Initially my heart was broken for Jaxson, his brother’s and their children. The story skips ahead about 4 years and Jaxson meets Kellie at a main street fair. He goes from being a hermit and barely interacting with people outside of work, his family and children to a R rated event alongside the road with a woman he met just that night. When he gets home he then invites her to come over to his house for some adult playtime, before inviting her to spend the day with him and his 4 year old daughters. He goes from one extreme to the other with how he interacts with her when he slams the brakes on anything more than a platonic friendship for months. They have a best friends/lovers arrangement for years, and as the book skips ahead they eventually move in together around the 8 year mark. From here the story just loses me with the crazy events that take place with little explanation or storytelling and as the timeline keeps advancing ahead weeks and months and references events are brought up about past events that haven’t previously been mentioned or ‘discussed’ by the characters as if it was actually part of this story.
I’ve only read this book by the author, but from reading the blurbs for the other 3 brothers’ books and a guess, I believe the author has the 4 books focusing on each brother, but she the events happen in parallel timeframes so when you read the next brother’s book you get more details of what you’ve already read just from a different POV. So events and stories are referenced that seem out of the blue and have no connection to the story shared in this book. It gets ridiculously confusing and doesn’t improve the reading experience. If anything, it convinced me I don’t want to read the other books in the series because I have a pretty good idea what ends up happening but the why and how will be a convoluted mess that I just don’t want to take the time to read.
Lastly, I went from really feeling sympathy for Jaxson to almost despising him. Frankly how he treats Kellie for the last 1/3 of the book I kept hoping she’d end up with one of the other brothers!
I received a free ARC from the author and NetGalley; and I am leaving an unbiased review which is my own opinion. Just because this book wasn’t one I enjoyed, give it a chance because you may love
The story is written in a narrative style which my least favorite writing styles which I think makes it hard to feel any connection to the characters. For most of the book the POV bounces between Jaxson and Kellie, but somewhere around the 75% mark random other characters are telling the story. For example, we get a chapter from the boyfriend of one of Jason’s daughters. To have characters who haven’t been around but in the background all of a sudden telling the story - was just weird and distracting.
The story takes place over 18 years. Initially my heart was broken for Jaxson, his brother’s and their children. The story skips ahead about 4 years and Jaxson meets Kellie at a main street fair. He goes from being a hermit and barely interacting with people outside of work, his family and children to a R rated event alongside the road with a woman he met just that night. When he gets home he then invites her to come over to his house for some adult playtime, before inviting her to spend the day with him and his 4 year old daughters. He goes from one extreme to the other with how he interacts with her when he slams the brakes on anything more than a platonic friendship for months. They have a best friends/lovers arrangement for years, and as the book skips ahead they eventually move in together around the 8 year mark. From here the story just loses me with the crazy events that take place with little explanation or storytelling and as the timeline keeps advancing ahead weeks and months and references events are brought up about past events that haven’t previously been mentioned or ‘discussed’ by the characters as if it was actually part of this story.
I’ve only read this book by the author, but from reading the blurbs for the other 3 brothers’ books and a guess, I believe the author has the 4 books focusing on each brother, but she the events happen in parallel timeframes so when you read the next brother’s book you get more details of what you’ve already read just from a different POV. So events and stories are referenced that seem out of the blue and have no connection to the story shared in this book. It gets ridiculously confusing and doesn’t improve the reading experience. If anything, it convinced me I don’t want to read the other books in the series because I have a pretty good idea what ends up happening but the why and how will be a convoluted mess that I just don’t want to take the time to read.
Lastly, I went from really feeling sympathy for Jaxson to almost despising him. Frankly how he treats Kellie for the last 1/3 of the book I kept hoping she’d end up with one of the other brothers!
I received a free ARC from the author and NetGalley; and I am leaving an unbiased review which is my own opinion. Just because this book wasn’t one I enjoyed, give it a chance because you may love