A review by torilovesheas
Shielded Heart by Tiffany Roberts
3.0
3.5 ⭐️
To be fair, I’m in a weird book slump/mood so maybe this was a me problem and not a book problem, but I was just incredibly bored at times with this one.
The worldbuilding was really interesting (nothing unique necessarily? But still cool and well thought out.). The side characters were GREAT. I’m v excited to read about Drakkal because he just seems like a secret softie under that gruff exterior! And I really liked the idea of an ex-gladiator turned underworld forger faking for a lost, lonely human new to an alien world/city.
What really bugged me was Samantha, the FMC, and the odd pacing. I did like that Samantha was a survivor of REALLY horrible domestic abuse and she was determined to start over after running away from her ex, James. But….sometimes she seemed determined to start over to her own detriment. I mean, I appreciated the cahones on her, truly. But there’s a fine line between being brave and being reckless and Samantha toed that line a little too closely.
The pacing was also really oddly done. There’s 400 pages and the last 50 or so crammed so much action and big reveals into it that I had a hard time keeping up.
I will say that the Roberts duo KNOW how to right a fight scene! The fight scenes were great! It played like a little movie in my head. Detailed without being too tell-y.
Really excited to pick up Drakkal’s book and Samantha and Arc’s sequel!
To be fair, I’m in a weird book slump/mood so maybe this was a me problem and not a book problem, but I was just incredibly bored at times with this one.
The worldbuilding was really interesting (nothing unique necessarily? But still cool and well thought out.). The side characters were GREAT. I’m v excited to read about Drakkal because he just seems like a secret softie under that gruff exterior! And I really liked the idea of an ex-gladiator turned underworld forger faking for a lost, lonely human new to an alien world/city.
What really bugged me was Samantha, the FMC, and the odd pacing. I did like that Samantha was a survivor of REALLY horrible domestic abuse and she was determined to start over after running away from her ex, James. But….sometimes she seemed determined to start over to her own detriment. I mean, I appreciated the cahones on her, truly. But there’s a fine line between being brave and being reckless and Samantha toed that line a little too closely.
The pacing was also really oddly done. There’s 400 pages and the last 50 or so crammed so much action and big reveals into it that I had a hard time keeping up.
I will say that the Roberts duo KNOW how to right a fight scene! The fight scenes were great! It played like a little movie in my head. Detailed without being too tell-y.
Really excited to pick up Drakkal’s book and Samantha and Arc’s sequel!