Heartbeat Repeating

Overall I enjoyed this book, but there are parts I didn't quite like. But before I get into that, this is my first E. M. Lindsey book so I was unfamiliar with the writing style. No one ever mentions it (or I don't see any of the reviews that do), but most books are written in past tense, are they not? Here we have both past tense and present tense and while I really don't like the mixing of the two because it's usually done very badly, this time it actually made sense. However, because I kept going from present tense to past tense and vice-versa the book felt slower paced than it actually was. The story felt like dragging at times.

About the story itself, I half worried that this might be the first book of a series because I got invested into it and I would have wanted to read the sequel despite not being a fan of the writing (also, the book needs some editing). It's not so much that I liked the story, but it was something new to me. Meaning the sugar daddy plot. I think I read something that had a similar situation before, but not quite.

I think I liked the main characters, but I couldn't quite connect with them. I think that's part because of the verb tenses. I don't know, the writing style sure made me put in more effort than necessary while reading this. The more time passes between me reading the book and writing this review (which is one day) the less I like it. I can't put my finger on it, but there's something off. There was some angst, but the story read too calm, too smooth sailing, too obvious. Even the conflict was so overused I was resigned while reading it, but also a bit disappointed.

What I did appreciate in this book was that the main characters actually stuck to what they decided for a while and not cave in after a few weeks like usually happens. That was weirdly refreshing. The whole period wasn't detailed, but I don't imagine there's much to write about so maybe it's for the best. But I do have a bit of mixed feelings about it. On one hand, if in this format I felt the book was dragging, then that would have slowed things even more. On the other hand it might have added to the angst.

I'm not sure I want to try another E. M. Lindsey book, but at the same time I would have read if there would have been a sequel to this one. I might have also dropped it, though. As happy as this story tried to be, it makes me feel the opposite. It gave me a very short lasting high and now I feel almost bitter. 'Heartbeat Repeating' is sadly not a book that makes me feel good things after reading it.