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Wholehearted (2013)

by Cate Ashwood(Favorite Author)

3.52 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

162798237X (ISBN13: 9781627982375)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Dreamspinner Press

series

Hope Cove

review 1: John Orr did an amazing job narrating this! I would forget I was supposed to be doing something while listening to this and I would sit down and listen for a while, and I got caught up in the story again. I love this authors writing and I love her characters. I love that she brought Mack and Oliver, the couple from the first book, into this and showed us where they are now. I was so happy to catch up with them, especially when I learned what they were up to.Now to the MC's in this book. Declan and Lucas. These two were really good together! I liked the way the author had Lucas start off as a bit of an ass, but then he let his defences down and started to show a nicer side. None of that was instant, though, and he was still the same character at the end, just a bit more ple... moreasant. Lucas' attitude was understandable, however, and I was glad he had a bit of a bitchy attitude. It added to my enjoyment of the story.As a couple, Declan and Lucas really did work. They had their issues, and things weren't always smooth sailing, but I never stopped feeling the connection between them or rooting for them. Both of them had their issues and their actions were understandable, even if I did want to scream at them to get it together.
review 2: Do you believe in love at first sight? How about Obsession at first site? Hope Cove Maine patrolman Declan Grant responds to a call at the docks to find Lucas Hale barely alive after being beaten and tossed off his fishing boat. But somehow Lucas is not just another victim... at least to Declan. Once he spots Lucas unconscious on the pier, Declan is enthralled. He can't even let Lucas ride alone with EMTs to the emergency room. Or leave his hospital room for long, or NOT invite the otherwise total stranger to move in with him while he recuperates.While there are some sweet moments here, I had trouble with the recurring thought that Declan's behavior was stalkerish and unnatural. If one can dismiss that, the honeymoon aspects of this courtship are sweet and some of the scenes including one particular one in the bathroom are very HOT. One early problem in this book for me was the overuse of the victim's name (Lucas.) Perhaps it was because I'd just finished a book where the eponymous character was simply referred to as "the boy" for the entire first chapter, but the frequent use of Lucas's name here (before we even meet the conscious character) seemed kind of strange and overly familiar. This is the second book in a series and I've not read the first installment. There are other very positive reviews of this book and I'm wondering if Declan's behavior is somehow easier to understand if you've read book one.It also seemed to me that the author included a number of details that I might have omitted in favor of spending time on other things. One example was the inclusion of a scene in which Declan recalls responding to his first incident involving a dead child. Those details seemed unnecessary to me. By the same token, Lucas's reasons for NOT wanting to prosecute his attackers were never explored or explained. Given the impact that that decision had on the overall plot I felt that it deserved more explanation. Still, on the whole, if you're looking for a book about the honeymoon period in a relationship between a small town New England cop and a victim he saves you might have just found the ideal book for you. Rather than reading this, I listened to the audio-book version as narrated by John Orr, the same fellow who did book one. He has a young masculine voice that seems ideally suited for portraying Declan and Lucas. His portrayal of women's voices was a bit annoying but there are so few women in the book, this is a minor quibble. He also has a prozac like, dead-pan delivery that is an asset in spots and a detriment in spots. Like prozac it seemed to remove the worst of the lows (of poor prose) but also seemed to limit some of the better passages. You'll have to judge for yourself, I'm still undecided as to whether the net effect was a plus or a minus. less

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