Scan barcode
A review by tessisreading2
Jacinda's Challenge by M.K. Eidem
3.0
This book was like reading badly-edited fanfic of space opera novels I'd never gotten around to reading. It has that strangely addictive quality some fanfiction has, where the author cares so aggressively about these characters that the reader cares, too. That said, the editing was really terrible - the prologue slips between past and present tense, there are a lot of grammatical errors, and for a book that places so much emphasis on ages ("cycles" rather than "years" - there are a lot of space-isms which felt awkward and unnecessary) those seemed to have difficulty staying consistent. There is a lot of telling rather than showing and a ton of very complex backstory, which luckily is gone over so comprehensively that I'm left a little confused as to whether there actually were prior novels or this is all just backstory. (ETA: Okay, looks like this is the third of a series.)
Okay, on to actual plot: the heroine, who is alas too perfect for words (everyone loves her, and I do mean everyone), is a sixty-something widow, vaguely acquainted with the also-widowed king, who is one year ("cycle") her junior. The king is incredibly depressed over some complex backstory stuff, while the heroine is a well-adjusted mother of three. They randomly run into each other, the heroine starts fixing all the problems in the king's life with such excellent advice as "maybe don't drink caffeine at 11 PM if you want to get to sleep tonight," and they fall wildly in love and have lots of explicit sex. There are other backstory reasons why Their Love Is Going To Be Difficult, but despite the fact that both of them had previous "life mates" with whom they had loving and fulfilling relationships, they decide that they love each other and are willing to try to make it work.
The book itself had that weirdly compelling quality which is hard to explain: the editing was bad, the writing was so-so, and the plot was silly, but everyone was pretty pleasant and understandable and it was an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. I really wish that someone had taken this book, edited it fiercely, and had some long conversations with the author about where she was going and what she wanted to get at. The result could have been something really good. As it was, this was readable but very long and pretty much devoid of tension. I discovered that I was totally happy to spend a lot of time reading Pleasant Sixty-Somethings Find Love - In Space! but it's not really a headline-grabber, you know?
Okay, on to actual plot: the heroine, who is alas too perfect for words (everyone loves her, and I do mean everyone), is a sixty-something widow, vaguely acquainted with the also-widowed king, who is one year ("cycle") her junior. The king is incredibly depressed over some complex backstory stuff, while the heroine is a well-adjusted mother of three. They randomly run into each other, the heroine starts fixing all the problems in the king's life with such excellent advice as "maybe don't drink caffeine at 11 PM if you want to get to sleep tonight," and they fall wildly in love and have lots of explicit sex. There are other backstory reasons why Their Love Is Going To Be Difficult, but despite the fact that both of them had previous "life mates" with whom they had loving and fulfilling relationships, they decide that they love each other and are willing to try to make it work.
The book itself had that weirdly compelling quality which is hard to explain: the editing was bad, the writing was so-so, and the plot was silly, but everyone was pretty pleasant and understandable and it was an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. I really wish that someone had taken this book, edited it fiercely, and had some long conversations with the author about where she was going and what she wanted to get at. The result could have been something really good. As it was, this was readable but very long and pretty much devoid of tension. I discovered that I was totally happy to spend a lot of time reading Pleasant Sixty-Somethings Find Love - In Space! but it's not really a headline-grabber, you know?