A review by tita_noir
Any Time, Any Place, Volume 2 by Jennifer Probst
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
This book had a great conflict set up. But man, it was just so meh.
The possibility of a good enemies to lovers and a great angst factor was high. But my overwhelming reaction was impatience. I kept waiting to feel something for these people and got nothing.
10% of the book was the hero, Dalton, telling us over and over how awesome and badass Raven (the heroine) was.
50% was any forward plot momentum being arrested by inner thoughts of how sexy one found the other. This is fine. It is a romance after all and the characters need to be attracted to each other, but there were so many cases I thought these inner thoughts could have been better placed in the scene. The writing was already not very engaging and I spent so much time waiting for something to happen, that it just felt like this was dragging it even further.
I will give the author credit that when it came to the big reveal of the big secret she at least let the heroine tell the hero, rather than him finding out on his own. That would have been the predictable route. But even so, this long awaited reveal still didn't hit me in the feels the way I wanted it to. The emotion just wasn't there for me.
Another piece of author credit and one point of the book that I will say I absolutely liked, was the last part after the black moment, the hero's quest for forgiveness. He didn't do a grand gesture or abject grovelling, but he did apologize and I liked his method of proving his sincerity and contrition.
I have never read a book by this writer. I didn't find the writing or storytelling especially engaging, but as is my policy I will try the author a second time to see if a different book works better for me.
Listened to this on audio. It was a dual narration. The male narrator was very good. The female narrator was good with the heroine/women voice but she made the hero sound slow and not too bright.
The possibility of a good enemies to lovers and a great angst factor was high. But my overwhelming reaction was impatience. I kept waiting to feel something for these people and got nothing.
10% of the book was the hero, Dalton, telling us over and over how awesome and badass Raven (the heroine) was.
50% was any forward plot momentum being arrested by inner thoughts of how sexy one found the other. This is fine. It is a romance after all and the characters need to be attracted to each other, but there were so many cases I thought these inner thoughts could have been better placed in the scene. The writing was already not very engaging and I spent so much time waiting for something to happen, that it just felt like this was dragging it even further.
I will give the author credit that when it came to the big reveal of the big secret she at least let the heroine tell the hero, rather than him finding out on his own. That would have been the predictable route. But even so, this long awaited reveal still didn't hit me in the feels the way I wanted it to. The emotion just wasn't there for me.
Another piece of author credit and one point of the book that I will say I absolutely liked, was the last part after the black moment, the hero's quest for forgiveness. He didn't do a grand gesture or abject grovelling, but he did apologize and I liked his method of proving his sincerity and contrition.
I have never read a book by this writer. I didn't find the writing or storytelling especially engaging, but as is my policy I will try the author a second time to see if a different book works better for me.
Listened to this on audio. It was a dual narration. The male narrator was very good. The female narrator was good with the heroine/women voice but she made the hero sound slow and not too bright.