48 Followers
18 Following
sirius

Romance and other things

Did not work for me

The Royal Street Heist - Scotty Cade

I finished one book by this writer (historical mystery) some time ago and liked it a lot. I could not finish his contemporary story and that had also been a while. I think I was being fair and never came back to his works, because I figured it was not my cup of tea. However recently I was checking out Dreamspinner new releases and this book just looked so very tempting - New Orlean, art, mystery, and what looked as my catnip to boot - "from enemies to lovers". I clicked. I wish I had not done that.

The writing in this book just did not work for me *at all*. Every single detail is described and for me the descriptions felt mechanical and repetitive.

I will not quote the very beginning of the book, because I suspect this is part of the sample, but the character repeatedly wiping up the sweat from his eyebrow instead of empathizing his nervousness made me think - "enough already".

Here is a good example closer to the end of the book.

"Tollison had asked question after question, trying to learn as much as possible about Beau in the little time he had and was having a great time getting to know what made the other man tick. Beau answered each question patiently, and when the food came, it almost seemed like an intrusion. Until... Tollison bit down into his burger. Then it was suddenly no longer an intrusion, but a heavenly experience. Tollison's mouth almost started to water as he thought about his dinner. It had been quite possibly one of the best burgers Tollison had ever tasted, and he could clearly see why Beau loved that place so much."

If you like this paragraph, you have a good chance of enjoying this book more than I did.

I also did not like how "from enemies to lovers" was executed. I love bickering as much as any other person who likes this trope, but I want to see a transition in how the men feel towards each other, I wanted to see a sexual tension between them. Nope, one second they hate each other (dislike not really hate), next second (not literally second of course) they are in bed.

I really liked the resolution to the mystery - it felt real, the simple and first guess was pretty much correct, it made sense. Did not save the book for me though.