I Loved You in Another Life by David Arnold
When this book was first published it had incredible reviews. I read (well DNF’d) an ARC version of it and let’s just say my opinion on it felt quite controversial at the time. I’m not the type of person to give a book a good rating just because the publisher sent me a copy – I’m brutally honest and that seems to be working for me so far.
I’m not afraid to say when I think a book is boring, but I will always clarify that this is how I feel and others may not feel the same. This book wasn’t doing it for me. I got almost halfway through and not a lot happened. I didn’t go into this book expecting it to be fast paced with action going on, but I didn’t expect a whole lot of nothing but replays of traumatic events and confusing flashbacks.
The very first genre this book is listed under is romance and when you pair that with its cover, you think you’re in for an entirely different story.
Synopsis: Evan Taft has plans. Take a gap year in Alaska, make sure his little brother and single mother are taken care of, and continue therapy to process his father’s departure. But after his mom’s unexpected diagnosis, as Evan’s plans begin to fade, he hears something: a song no one else can hear, the voice of a mysterious singer . . .
Shosh Bell has dreams. A high school theater legend, she’s headed to performing arts college in LA, a star on the rise. But when a drunk driver takes her sister’s life, that star fades to black. All that remains is a void—and a soft voice singing in her ear . . .
Over it all, transcending time and space, a celestial bird brings strangers together: from an escaped murderer in 19th century Paris, to a Norwegian kosmonaut in low-earth orbit, something is happening that began long ago, and will long outlast Evan and Shosh.
Bet The Farm by Staci Hart
Surprisingly, I actually finished this book. I went in pretty hard in my review though. Here’s a pretty long excerpt from it that sums up most of my issues with this book: “I really liked the premise of this book but I felt like it went on for longer than necessary. This didn’t need to be over 9 hours long. There were repeated arguments and I really could have done without the ‘spice’ and the constant lustful thoughts. Also Olivia refers to a cow’s udders as nipples multiple times and it made me really uncomfortable. Plus it was annoying because it’s just not the correct word to use.
Jake was actually horrible and that made it really difficult to root for both the farm and the romance. He was rude to Olivia every time he saw her, which at first made sense. She abandoned the farm and it looks like she’s only come back to claim her inheritance, but she clears up very quickly that isn’t the case. However, he’s horrific to her because he thinks he has some claim over the farm and her grandfather because he’s worked there for so long. He has no empathy for the fact she lost her sole caregiver that took her in when her parents died. Ugh he’s the worst. Also, it seems pretty dangerous and unhygienic to constantly work shirtless on a farm. Put a top on you poser.”
The only reasons why I gave this book a measly two stars is because the story line was actually interesting, although there was a lot of repeated content, and the audio narration was done pretty well – even if I did need to put it on 2x speed because they talked so slowly.
Synopsis: Olivia Brent has one summer to save the dairy farm she just inherited.
But there’s one problem, and it’s not her lactose intolerance.
Jake Milovic.
The brooding farmhand has inherited exactly fifty percent of Brent Farm, and he’s so convinced the city girl can’t work the land, he bets she can’t save it in a summer.
Determined to prove him wrong, Olivia accepts what might be the dumbest wager of her life.
His strategy to win seems simple: follow her around, shirtlessly distracting her between bouts of relentless taunting. And it’s effective—if his dark eyes and rare smiles aren’t enough to sidetrack her, the sweaty, rolling topography of the manbeast’s body would do the trick.
What they don’t know: they’ll have to weather more than each other.
Mysterious circumstances throw the farm into disarray, and with the dairy farm in danger, Olivia and Jake have to work together. But when they do, there’s more to fear than either of them imagined.
Because now their hearts are on the line, and the farm won’t be the only casualty if they fail.
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Like this post? Why not read this one too: Book Review: The Deal by Elle Kennedy