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tradermare

tradermare

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The Immortal Rules
Julie Kagawa
Unchained
J. Lynn, Jennifer L. Armentrout
Diamonds in the Rough
Portia Da Costa
The Love of My (Other) Life - Traci L. Slatton I liked this story. It was a bit different and off-beat with an interesting premise, but I was also glad it was novella-sized, as I did have some problems with the way the story was presented. Great idea, but could have been better executed.Let’s start with the cover. It screams erotica, and yet there is very little erotic content here. Yes, there is sex, but it’s more of a fade-to-black sex than anything erotic, and the concept of “soulmates” was a little bent too.Tessa Barnum tells her story in first person point of view, and you feel her struggle with lack of money and some vague issue with her painting career that doesn’t become clear until mid-way in the story. When Brian enters her life, he insists he knows her and is actually married to her in an alternate universe. His side of the story from that alternate universe is told in third person point of view.Each chapter starts with a quote, and at times I found that a bit amateurish. I didn’t see what they added to the story. Also, many of the chapters were very short, and I wanted more details. .The pacing of the story was good, and it held my interest until the end. Although some of the circumstances seemed contrived, the story was more about what it takes to move on when life deals you a serious blow. Not everyone can jump to an alternate universe to do that though. I did like Brian and thought the author did a good job of letting us feel his pain and also his resolution.As for Tessa, the art intrigue storyline didn’t exactly ring true to me, and since we only hear Tessa’s explanation of it to Brian, it seemed a bit contrived, especially the thumb breaking part and using the “rev” in the sting at the end.So overall, I liked the story premise, but I thought the delivery could have been a bit better. It worked well as a novella. Thanks to Netgalley and Parvati Press for the review copy in exchange for an honest review