Romance Bingo - Key to Heart square
What a draining story. There were only two things keeping me from DNF'ing this: 1) to fill a Romance Bingo square and 2) to find the mystery of the hidden key. I have no interest in reading book one or book three; I feel that so much of this book does flashbacks and conversations all relating to book one to the point I felt like I was also reading book one (so many plot points are repeated, it is almost like the author did a find and replace with just the characters' names).
Characters: The main side ones (couple from book one Malory and Flynn; couple from book three Zoe and Brad) are annoying, but tolerable since you get them in small doses. The main couple in this book is Dana and Jordan and they suck as a couple. I couldn't get up enough emotional resources to root for them. Jordan was an interesting individual, with a backstory ripe with potential. But he was a mystery/thriller novelist, so you get a crap ton of "insight" into how authors work/think about writing/think about readers, etc. I hate this because I always read into this more as how the author of the book thinks/works. Dana is an obnoxious, demanding, bitchy, hot-headed, judgmental, snob who is also dumb as a box of rocks. Seriously, I figured out where the key was by the middle/two-thirds of the story. I just hated every word out of her mouth, every action she took, and thought she had.
Writing: the dream sequences and final jump into the book was wonderful and kept me hanging on. The premise of the book had a nice and well-thought out paranormal aspect to it. The romance part failed horribly - it was either cheesy or cringe-worthy, especially the sex. Also two engagement scenes from different couples was serious over kill.
Overall it is done and another square filled.
2