A review by alleskelle
By Your Side by Karla Sorensen
2.0
⭐️⭐️ 2 STARS⭐️⭐️
Ok I'm going to be honest (as ever) and give this one a 2 stars encouragement.
I picked this one at an attractive price ($0.99) after the author contacted me for a review, and quite frankly this should have been a perfect read for me. Well, based on the synopsis, anyway.
Unfortunately, what the blurb promised never happened, Neighbors to Lovers trope, mixing in Enemies to Lovers, Army Hero, Sassy Heroine, a supporting and loving family with 4 protective brothers. ALL the aforementioned are favorite tropes of mine. ALL of them.
There was lot of ideas, and maybe too much of them while the story never really "started". It seems all too forced, the characters sharing no chemistry at all in my opinion. I don't mind the absence of steam in my Contemporary Romances, but for 2 characters living next to each other, I never felt any sparks between them, I was told that there was some kind of attraction but it never showed. Even when the author introduced an incentive for the heroine to get jealous, it fell flat.
The author referred to Jake, the military hero, as an "alpha male". In my book, an alpha male, even struggling with his feelings and commitments issues, will SHOW possessiveness toward the woman he covets.
But Jake seemed unfazed most of the time, and I don't mean only by the cold shoulder and facade he was wearing on purpose, I'm talking about his general attitude, even in his Pov, I never got from him an Alpha Hero vibe.
The pace was very slow and despite the profusion of drama and new developments the author tried to throw in, the story never held my attention.
I keep in mind that this is a debut novel, but as a romance reader, I read every drama and their lamas out there, so reading them all packed in this book was really overwhelming, and I had to (finally) close the book at 87% after rolling my eyes one time too many.
To conclude, while this started with a good idea, By Your Side lost me at the excess of manufactured drama, lack of chemistry and dynamic. The ingredients were there, but the execution failed to satisfy this romance reader. Leaving a positive note about all the their relationship with Remy. Yes, I loved "him"!
(And yes I was totally picturing myself cuddling with the dog. :/ )
Ok I'm going to be honest (as ever) and give this one a 2 stars encouragement.
I picked this one at an attractive price ($0.99) after the author contacted me for a review, and quite frankly this should have been a perfect read for me. Well, based on the synopsis, anyway.
Unfortunately, what the blurb promised never happened, Neighbors to Lovers trope, mixing in Enemies to Lovers, Army Hero, Sassy Heroine, a supporting and loving family with 4 protective brothers. ALL the aforementioned are favorite tropes of mine. ALL of them.
There was lot of ideas, and maybe too much of them while the story never really "started". It seems all too forced, the characters sharing no chemistry at all in my opinion. I don't mind the absence of steam in my Contemporary Romances, but for 2 characters living next to each other, I never felt any sparks between them, I was told that there was some kind of attraction but it never showed. Even when the author introduced an incentive for the heroine to get jealous, it fell flat.
The author referred to Jake, the military hero, as an "alpha male". In my book, an alpha male, even struggling with his feelings and commitments issues, will SHOW possessiveness toward the woman he covets.
But Jake seemed unfazed most of the time, and I don't mean only by the cold shoulder and facade he was wearing on purpose, I'm talking about his general attitude, even in his Pov, I never got from him an Alpha Hero vibe.
The pace was very slow and despite the profusion of drama and new developments the author tried to throw in, the story never held my attention.
I keep in mind that this is a debut novel, but as a romance reader, I read every drama and their lamas out there, so reading them all packed in this book was really overwhelming, and I had to (finally) close the book at 87% after rolling my eyes one time too many.
To conclude, while this started with a good idea, By Your Side lost me at the excess of manufactured drama, lack of chemistry and dynamic. The ingredients were there, but the execution failed to satisfy this romance reader. Leaving a positive note about all the their relationship with Remy. Yes, I loved "him"!
(And yes I was totally picturing myself cuddling with the dog. :/ )