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A review by lezreadalot
Driftwood by Harper Fox
3.0
“You’re different, you know. When you touch me, when you look at me. You make the world seem different. Less of a battlefield.”
2.5 stars. This is a weird one. It's undeniably well-written and I think the characters have great spark together. But the plot progression and events in this one were just so weak that it didn't come together in anything near a convincing love story for me. And the thing is, plot is usually the last thing I care about. Good writing and good characters are infinitely more important to me, especially if we're talking romance. There was an intensity to this that I liked, but the super quick burn just didn't work for these characters. They're both military men, past and present, and they're both brimming over with trauma. Nine times out of ten, if you're giving a character that much baggage, the story has to be fleshed out enough to hold up under it. And this both wasn't long enough, and didn't span a long enough time. I believe these characters could have fallen in love, but I didn't see it on page at all. I don't think the abusive partner storyline was handled badly, but I wouldn't give it any awards either. Through and through, this entire book just felt a bit lacking.
However, I did really earnestly love all the descriptions of the Cornish country and seaside, the solemn, lonely atmosphere, the fact that the characters' PTSD was taken into account. Like I said, it was really intense, which I always love, even if this did include some of my squicks. Fox can definitely write really well; no doubting that. I'm pretty sure the other book I read by her also took place in a short period of time? Like, a week? But idk, either that one was done way better, or my tastes have changed since then. I was never captivated by this romance.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Chris Clog, who was great to listen to, and did a good job of bringing all these different characters alive. I'm sure I'll read from this author again. This just wasn't it for me.
Content warnings: