A review by lilibetbombshell
Atonement by Evelyn Montgomery
4.0
Real Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
Atonement is a fast-paced, smart, sexy novella that follows an estranged married couple (and also freelance intelligent agents) as they are put together for an assignment after not seeing one another since their lives were torn apart several years prior when a mission went wrong.
I love a good novella. I love how authors are forced to pick and choose very carefully what they are going to sacrifice and what they are going to keep in the name of their writing muses in order to create, maintain, and finally put out a short and impactful story. The best novellas and short stories can tell us, in around 100 pages, just as much of (and as powerful of) a story as a full-length novel. Some of my favorite stories of all-time are novellas and short stories.
Atonement is entertaining enough, but I wouldn’t say it completely accomplishes what it set out to achieve. While there is a good amount of tension that suits any suspense novella, and the pace is suitably fast for the length, I think the frequent pauses left for emotional gravity between the estranged married couple that are our main characters lets up on the gas a little too much. If you add in the emotional angst and the light BDSM they engage in, it ends up letting up on the gas just that much more when it comes to the primary plot, leaving too much space for uneven pacing. To me, it ruined the natural ebb and flow a good suspense thriller like this should have. Instead, there were fits and starts that were out of place, and it showed.
Where this novella was at its best was in the fast-paced action scenes, the bitter and angry banter between the main characters, the steamy tension and build-up between them, and when they were working in tandem despite their differences.
While not an amazing short story, Atonement is certainly an entertaining one and worth the read.
Atonement is a fast-paced, smart, sexy novella that follows an estranged married couple (and also freelance intelligent agents) as they are put together for an assignment after not seeing one another since their lives were torn apart several years prior when a mission went wrong.
I love a good novella. I love how authors are forced to pick and choose very carefully what they are going to sacrifice and what they are going to keep in the name of their writing muses in order to create, maintain, and finally put out a short and impactful story. The best novellas and short stories can tell us, in around 100 pages, just as much of (and as powerful of) a story as a full-length novel. Some of my favorite stories of all-time are novellas and short stories.
Atonement is entertaining enough, but I wouldn’t say it completely accomplishes what it set out to achieve. While there is a good amount of tension that suits any suspense novella, and the pace is suitably fast for the length, I think the frequent pauses left for emotional gravity between the estranged married couple that are our main characters lets up on the gas a little too much. If you add in the emotional angst and the light BDSM they engage in, it ends up letting up on the gas just that much more when it comes to the primary plot, leaving too much space for uneven pacing. To me, it ruined the natural ebb and flow a good suspense thriller like this should have. Instead, there were fits and starts that were out of place, and it showed.
Where this novella was at its best was in the fast-paced action scenes, the bitter and angry banter between the main characters, the steamy tension and build-up between them, and when they were working in tandem despite their differences.
While not an amazing short story, Atonement is certainly an entertaining one and worth the read.