My Rating: 4 stars Read: 2/15/2017
Challenges:
- My Romance Challenge
Blurb:
A New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling book. Archer’s Voice is a full-length, standalone romance.
When Bree Prescott arrives in the sleepy, lakeside town of Pelion, Maine, she hopes against hope that this is the place where she will finally find the peace she so desperately seeks. On her first day there, her life collides with Archer Hale, an isolated man who holds a secret agony of his own. A man no one else sees.
Archer’s Voice is the story of a woman chained to the memory of one horrifying night and the man whose love is the key to her freedom. It is the story of a silent man who lives with an excruciating wound and the woman who helps him find his voice. It is the story of suffering, fate, and the transformative power of love.
Review:
I moved this book way up my TBR pile to read immediately due to the crazy high Goodreads rating. (4.47 with over 56K ratings.) Wow. That’s high. My thoughts, for what it’s worth….
I have a thing for disabled heroes and hurt/comfort stories, so I loved the premise of this one, the Beauty and the Beast idea of the ungroomed man who is isolated from his community and can’t speak being befriended, and redeemed, by the beautiful young girl who moves to the area. And I liked the beginning of the novel, where Bree was stalking, I mean, trying to get to know Archer. I was eager to know more about him and see them get together.
But then it dragged for me in the middle, which seemed way longer than it should be. There were multiple angst points where Archer misunderstood Bree, or was railroaded by his cousin Travis, or had moments of fear and self-doubt, etc. Interspersed with these were endless sex scenes. Like, perhaps it was trying to be a YA “Fifty Shades of Gray”. There were many scenes and details that really did not need to be there (my editors knife cried out to me from my pocket). Perhaps my impatience for the book to just get on with the main plot and wrap up had to do with the narrator. I listened to the audiobook and the female narrator’s voice was super young and had a valley girl twinge to it. “Oh my GOD, Archer”, that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and frequently had me rolling my eyes.
Overall, it read/sounded like a YA, with immature dialogue and simplistic “I love you,” “no, I love you,” “Aw! But I love YOU” vibe to it. Again, the choice of female narrator exacerbated that greatly.
I’m giving this 4 stars because overall I did like the story and the character of Archer . But it was too YA and too long for me personally to put it on my favorites shelf.
Book Links:
Magic Carpet Ride Books 