✫✫ 4 Stars ✫✫

This book took my awhile to get into but once I did, I enjoyed it. Koti was a bit of a mystery at first, I really expected her issues to be bigger than they were, maybe more dramatic? Not that her issues aren't big, just that the build of to finally find out what she was running from made it seem like more. I loved how she was just trying to build a life that worked for her but I also feel like instead of working on her she was just avoiding the issues. Ian was an interesting guy too! He comes to town all angry and broken. Thankfully the beginning explains why so we weren't guessing. I'll be honest though, even with seriously hot sex, the chemistry really took a long time for me. By the end I was finally feeling it. I think my favorite thing about this book was his daughter and her best friend. They brought humor and fun to the story. Oh and the setting sure was a plus while listening from a snowy state!

The narration was ok. Jason Clarke was a great choice, I love his work. Lila Winters was good for the females but I didn't love her odd Ian accent. I don't think it was all her though, I think it would have been less jarring if both narrators did an accent or neither. It was a little weird that Ian had an accent when she was reading but not when Jason was. They actually talk quite a bit about his accent so I think it was needed by both.

11 people found this helpful

maybe my hopes were too high

I had recently read the Ravenhood series and was in a book hangover. ugh! It was amazing. I expected this to be on the same level. It wasn't in my opinion. It could be the narrators. Not my favorite. I did not finish listening. It could be that I'm still reeling over the Ravenhood series. It's been 2 days and I'm still think about that one.

2 people found this helpful

3 stars

I didn't see the hype on this one. I couldn't connect with the characters at all, or did their relationship seem believable. The audiobook wasn't cohesive with Jason not doing the accent and Lila did (which wasn't the best). She really should have just dropped Ian's accent all together, maybe the audio would have been more enjoyable.

2 people found this helpful

Interesting story, just not quite my thing

3.5 stars — Do you ever have one of those books that you’ve heard rave reviews about, and you want to love them more than you actually do? That ended up being this book for me. If you love books with a lot of drama and angst, then you should totes give this book a try. I’m not usually a fan, it really depends…and for me that’s where this book started to lose it for me. So it really is just personal taste, you know? It was like I was sitting there listening to it and thinking that if I enjoyed angst, I would be LOVING all the emotions…but for me it was tiring and felt over the top.

Before I go farther, let’s talk about narrators. I had a mixed reaction on this one. In general I LOVED both Ms. Winters and Mr. Clarke’s narrations. They both had great range of emotion, really made both Ian and Koti come to life, solid pacing. Mr. Clarke’s different voices for different characters were really solid. Ms. Winters’ weren’t bad, though occasionally I would get confused, particularly between Koti and Jasmine. And while I LOVED Ms. Winters’ inner voice for Koti, I was NOT a fan of the accents she put on for both Jasmine and Ian, and even to a smaller degree Ella. In my opinion, Jasmine’s midwest accent had a strong NJ quality to it, and Ian’s South African accent made me think Austrian (like Arnold Schwartzenneger). Honestly, if you’re not good at accents, just don’t do them. Mr. Clarke didn’t put on a SA accent for Ian, and I much preferred it.

As for our characters, I enjoyed Koti’s sass, and the dichotomy of her caring side with her fierce side. I thought the backstory of her panic attacks was interesting, and added something to her personal story. It felt realistic. On the other hand her endometriosis baffled me…particularly since she no longer had painful periods after that first one, and I guess I just didn’t understand the whole sex dynamic with Ian. I did appreciate her friendship with Jasmine, and the two of them made me laugh quite a bit. It was nice to see a strong female friendship like that.

Ian was…well, sometimes I felt so much for him, and what he was going through. And sometimes he was just kind of a dick. I’m not much into alphas, and he was definitely that. Obviously I preferred his more human/kind side. And while I didn’t always enjoy his overprotectiveness of his daughter, I appreciated how much he LOVED her.

As for their relationship? I had a hard time with it. They could really hurt one another, and at times it felt mostly based on their sexual attraction…which is funny, b/c they did have a strong friendship at other times. I guess I didn’t understand their sexual relationship, and it’s not the kind that I’m most interested in reading about.

I think I was enjoying myself enough to make up for the things I wasn’t enjoying until the separation. Then I kind of started losing interest, and the things started feeling more over the top.

So yeah. An interesting story that just happened to not hit my buttons, you know? Ah well!

1 person found this helpful

Worth every minute!

I couldn't set this book aside enough to do anything productive. Nothing holds my attention like that! These characters made me laugh and broke my heart. None of my husband's did that, Ever.

3 people found this helpful

Endometriosis Representation

First off, I love have representation of Endometriosis in a book. So many of us Women suffer with Endometriosis and are ignored, so it is wonderful to have representation in the books we read to escape. Endo Sisters should read it!! General Anxiety Disorder and Endometriosis are real conditions and too have our main heroine suffering with both makes her even more real. The story taking place in St, Thomas makes it definitely an escape.

The Narrator Lila Winters did an absolutely fantastic job. She differentiated between the three main characters of the book graciously. Jason Clark was in the book minimally just for small chapters from Ian's perspective.

I can say I was sad when the book ended and I very may well listen to it again.

3 people found this helpful

More IAN pls!

Kori’s a pretty great character, her medical issues aside I enjoyed who she was and what she stands for.
She really tries to make everyone’s stay at the island like it was their first time seeing the beauty she gets to live with year round. I loved this.
I kind of felt like she was hiding too I mean she was, but I think it took seeing someone else hide for her to wake up.

Ian oh this fella was in some pain, and it was completely understandable. I can’t even imagine. I really enjoyed the evolution he goes through. And the fact that it takes place over a period of time I just enjoyed the layers this story had.

The ending was sweet and I think much needed at least for me the reader I loved getting that.

The narration for me was fantastic; I don’t know the different accents from a hole in the ground so I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think this might have been a first for me from Lila Winters but I really have nothing I would have changed I just enjoyed this book and performance.

7 people found this helpful

Kate Stewart Slays again

She’s such an amazing author! The depth of the characters blows me away every time. This is the 2nd time I’ve listened to this book. Love me a happy ending! Love that Abby& Cameron came to vacation with Noble!! Love a crossover!! Really wish the male narrator had an accent or at least attempted it. The female was fantastic and superb. The male was good his female voices were good; but no South African accent. Weird
I will read or listen to this book again within the next 12 month.

It just went on and on

The actual story could have been told in at least a fourth of the amount of time and pages. The rest was just filler. This story made such a point of highlighting the main male character's accent; therefore, Jason Clark's lack of an accent was noticeable. Lila Winter's narration was just plain annoying, very whiny, and really made me dislike the female lead character. Not really sure why I picked this book but I won't bother to listen to it again.

Female narration is horrible

I always sample audio books to make sure I enjoy the voices, and the guys is great! He does such a good job, and they only use his voice in the sample.

Whoever this female is, it’s terrible. She does a horrible Minnesotan accent for her friend which sounds more New Jersey. She does some weird accent for the man that’s supposed to be South African that sounds New Jersey about half way through. The man doesn’t even do an accent for his character so that’s weird.

It’s just bad and making me hate this book. I loved drive, I loved ravenhood… but this is something else. I’m going to have to DNF.