A review by rian3x3
Swift for the Sun by Karen Bovenmyer
4.0
Most of my issues with the book could have been solved by starting me just a scene or two, a chapter at the absolute most. Conventional wisdom is to begin as close to the inciting incident as possible and right in the thick of the action, which I usually agree with. For this one, though, I wished that I'd had a little more time to get used to the main before being thrown into the shipwreck that sets events in action. While I clicked immediately with Ben, the problem was that I didn't feel anything for his crew or his ship or the life he was giving up to try to survive as a smuggler. So, when the inevitable happened, I wasn't saddened by the wreck or the loss of his men, which I really needed to be for some of the events that come later in the book.
After that first chapter, I found my footing. Ben's relationship with Sun and the way it progresses feels really natural to me, so I loved that. I ripped through the rest of the first half of the book, eager to see them get their happy ending.
Just after halfway, though, I hit another stumbling block. The novel changes direction, not in a bad way, just in one that I wasn't expecting. I think, again, taking a little longer at the start to lay out some of the politics at play in the early 19th century Caribbean would have made the transition a little smoother for me, and I wouldn't have been so disoriented by the sudden switch.
I lost a little precious time adjusting to the new path that the plot takes, but I was very satisfied with the way the novel ends. It's sweet without being saccarine, and it rings true to the characters. At the end of the day, it's exactly what I want from a romance!
After that first chapter, I found my footing. Ben's relationship with Sun and the way it progresses feels really natural to me, so I loved that. I ripped through the rest of the first half of the book, eager to see them get their happy ending.
Just after halfway, though, I hit another stumbling block. The novel changes direction, not in a bad way, just in one that I wasn't expecting. I think, again, taking a little longer at the start to lay out some of the politics at play in the early 19th century Caribbean would have made the transition a little smoother for me, and I wouldn't have been so disoriented by the sudden switch.
I lost a little precious time adjusting to the new path that the plot takes, but I was very satisfied with the way the novel ends. It's sweet without being saccarine, and it rings true to the characters. At the end of the day, it's exactly what I want from a romance!