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A review by romancelibrary
Hard Time by Cara McKenna
3.5
Annie is a librarian working at a medium security prison, where she meets an inmate named Eric. I blame Prison Break for my obsession with the convict romance trope. I don't usually like insta-lust, but the forbidden romance makes it work here. The epistolary element adds an unexpected layer of tension between Annie and Eric 🔥
Eric's letters to Annie are my favourite part about this book. I absolutely adored Eric ðŸ˜ðŸ˜©ðŸ¥º His letters. His words. His everything 😩 I wanted to give him a hug. I'm starting to think that sweet Alphas are a whole category of their own and Eric definitely fits the criteria.
I loved Eric, but I had a harder time liking Annie. Some of her beliefs and thoughts didn't sit right with me. For instance: when she refused to believe that the system is broken because her dad is a state trooper. Or when she kept downplaying Eric's sister's trauma. Or when she always found a way to say something hurtful to Eric about his time in prison. Little things like that, here and there, bugged me and these little things just kept accumulating...to the point where I just plain disliked Annie.
Annie's conflict with Eric's sister does get resolved. But I still didn't really like Annie by the end of the book. Maybe if we had an actual scene where Annie reveals to her parents that she's dating an ex-con...maybe she could've earned some good points in my book.
This book is also character-driven, so don't expect much of a plot. Even the conflict and the climax are character-driven. The drama with Annie and Eric's sister was very repetitive and I couldn't be bothered with it. While I was 100% invested in the beginning of this book, my interest in the story and the romance unfortunately diminished toward the end.
Eric's letters to Annie are my favourite part about this book. I absolutely adored Eric ðŸ˜ðŸ˜©ðŸ¥º His letters. His words. His everything 😩 I wanted to give him a hug. I'm starting to think that sweet Alphas are a whole category of their own and Eric definitely fits the criteria.
I loved Eric, but I had a harder time liking Annie. Some of her beliefs and thoughts didn't sit right with me. For instance: when she refused to believe that the system is broken because her dad is a state trooper. Or when she kept downplaying Eric's sister's trauma. Or when she always found a way to say something hurtful to Eric about his time in prison. Little things like that, here and there, bugged me and these little things just kept accumulating...to the point where I just plain disliked Annie.
Annie's conflict with Eric's sister does get resolved. But I still didn't really like Annie by the end of the book. Maybe if we had an actual scene where Annie reveals to her parents that she's dating an ex-con...maybe she could've earned some good points in my book.
This book is also character-driven, so don't expect much of a plot. Even the conflict and the climax are character-driven. The drama with Annie and Eric's sister was very repetitive and I couldn't be bothered with it. While I was 100% invested in the beginning of this book, my interest in the story and the romance unfortunately diminished toward the end.