Monday, August 19, 2013

Take Me Now by Faith Sullivan ~ Review

Source: Received an eBook from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Book Description:
How do you survive the internship from hell?

Don't fall in love.

Ivy thought being a reporter-in-training at the Independent Gazette would be her dream summer job. Little did she know, interviewing Eric, a landscaper with a heart of gold, would derail her plans. It turns out Ivy's boss, Lauren, has been eying his chiseled physique for quite some time.

But at twenty-four, Eric already has a tragic past, one that he is still reeling from. Even though his ordeal turned him into some sort of local celebrity, it's been a while since he's shared his bed with anyone. When he comes to Ivy's rescue out of the blue, it's not long before the two of them start seeing each other behind Lauren's back. When they get caught, Ivy's journey toward a college degree is jeopardized and her relationship with Eric is severely put to the test.

Career versus love? In the end, a shocking turn of events provides Ivy with a revelation she never saw coming.


My Thoughts:


 

2 stars - Wanted to like it

Have you ever been jet skiing in choppy water? You skim the tops of waves without getting too deep. Sometime your ski comes completely out of the water and your hear the engine whine. It's very different than snorkeling where you hang out under the water a lot. This book is like jet skiing in choppy water, well it was for me anyway. Here's why.


At 160 pages, this book is pretty short but it deals with a lot of super emotional things. I really would have liked to see it about 100 pages longer just so I didn't miss some of the conversations. For example, when Eric meets Ivy, he helps her get gas for her car and drives her back to it. They talked during that drive but we don't get to see it. I would have loved to have been in his truck with them. It felt like this is where their relationship developed. I hope it was because I'm not sure where else it did. I loved that Eric was drawn to Ivy after the tragedies in his life but I wondered about how fast that relationship went from nice to meet you to really want to kiss you especially with his past. There are lots of other examples of where I would have loved to see more and it wasn't there. As a result, I didn't connect with these characters. I liked them. I was curious about them but I didn't quite get them.


That leads me to the something that made me very uncomfortable as a reader. More than once, I reacted to something a character did with "What? That's not right". I kept thinking that that character was acting outside of themselves. I've heard authors say that they weren't able to get a character to do something they wanted them to do. That's how I felt. These characters were doing things that didn't fit them. I can only conclude one of two things. Either I didn't know these characters well enough to judge what they would do, or they were being forced to do things out of their character. No matter which it was, it made me very uncomfortable as a reader.


Another thing that had me confused was that some things happened without the reader knowing. What I mean is that there was no hints or thoughts about something that was just brought up randomly as it was needed. It's hard to give an example of this without spoiling but I'll try. One character has struggled with something for years and apparently recently cleaned out an entire part of their life. The reader finds out well after the fact and it just made me feel like I wasn't even part of this characters life during a critical part of the story. The huge problem I had with this was when this character flies off the handle because of it. So unexpected that it was jarring. Afterwards, the character summarizes the "clean out" and then I can see why they reacted the way they did but the discomfort for me was still there.


I think a good beta reader could have helped with another issue I had. I don't know if this book went through beta reading or not but the panties got missed. I would have definitely tagged if I was beta reading this one. This pair of panties disappeared from one character in one scene only to be back on her a couple of hours later yet they were still in the pocket of a different guy at the same time. That's a beta reading correction that needed to made and it bugged me. (Since I gave my review to the author, this issue has been fixed).


I really did love the premise of this one. It's the reason I wanted to read/review it. I wanted to love it but I just couldn't connect with the characters enough and the plot was too jarring - jet ski in choppy water. It's too bad.


Not everyone feels this way. Check out this 5 star review.

About this author:

I really hate talking about myself. My goal is to have the shortest author bio imaginable. I would much rather have a conversation with my readers.

Are you able to escape within my pages?
Does my writing make you feel something?
Are there characters that you can't get out of your head?

Let me know!


5 comments:

  1. It's too bad this didn't work for you. The things you mentioned that bothered you would probably bother me too. Thanks for the honest review!!

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  2. The jet skiing analogy was perfect, Val. You totally made me see what was bothering you. And, I don't like it when we're told about a conversation, but don't get to experience it, particularly when it's important to the story.
    Great review, Pal. Sorry you didn't love this more.

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  3. Hmm, yea, it sounds like this book could've used a couple more rounds of editing from what you're saying. Lol, jet skiing in choppy water. I love it! Great review Val!

    Vi
    Confessions of a Vi3tBabe
    Deity Island

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  4. This looks like something I would pick up, but I think I'll pass now. Nice review, Pal!

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  5. I've seen this around and it looks interesting. Loved your review!

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