I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

A Change in Tide introduced me to the work of Freya Barker. I thought the main characters would be in the late twenties or early thirties age group. However, it surprised me to discover they were older, which I appreciated. This is the first book in the Northern Lights series, and I have to say it’s off to a good start.

In this installment, we get Mia and Jared’s story. Mia, a divorcee and a midwife, lives in seclusion in a lake house, a choice she made after being diagnosed with agoraphobia. Living at the lake house provided her , however her peaceful life would be disturbed when Jared, a retired hockey player, moved in next door.

Mia’s first impression of Jared did not go well. Witnessing him in a compromising position with a woman she believed to be his girlfriend, then not soon after she sees a pregnant woman moving in with him. However, things are not always as one may first perceive.

I have to my first impression of Jared was far from flattering, but as the story progressed my feelings towards him changed. Jared oozed confidence. Strong, determined, protective and an excellent cook. He refused to let his career ending injury impact him negatively. Instead, he worked on finding other ways to utilise his skills. He was not afraid to go after what he wants, and Mia was in his sights. I admired Mia’s willingness to help someone in need and her feistiness. Both are complex characters and I had fun peeling away their layers.

I loved the friendship and the romance which developed between Mia and Jared. They took time to know each other and learnt a lot. The biggest revelation was learning of their connection through a tragedy they both suffered on the same day. Both characters showed tremendous growth throughout the story, especially Mia.

The story featured some humorous situations that had me giggling whenever they occurred. It moved at a steady pace to a large extent. The reader got the chance to witness Jared's sister going through her own share of issues and finding happiness in the end.

Narration

With this story we got a dual narration. This is the first time I have listened to narrators Tor Thom and Charley Ongel. I think they did an excellent job in bringing out the temperament of the characters. Their range of voices and tone enhanced the listening experience. Their voices were distinct making easy to distinguish between the characters they are representing.

Overall, A Change In Tide delivered a well-written romance featuring mature characters with real-life problems and realistic flaws.This review was originally posted on Totally Addicted to Reading

Eve1972

Written on Apr 25, 2017

I love this cover. A great representation of the hero. Nice composition. Nice typography, although the "A" is wierdly placed. All in all a nicely done cover.

So it is a testament to how well this author can weave a story that this ended up being a 3.5-Star read for me. Oh, it totally would have been an even higher rating if it hadn't been for that awful and unnecessary first chapter (see my rant below). I put this one down after that and gave myself 24 hours to bleach my brain before continuing from chapter two. From that point on this one was a wonderful read.

I really enjoy this author's writing style. It's very meandering in its pace without being boring. Although the last 20% did drag a little for me. There wasn't really any angst or drama. Just a slow building relationship between two broken people older in years than the typical H/h (Hero=39 Heroine=42). Adults behaving like adults. I enjoyed both main characters immensely. This book isn't heavy on the side characters but Jared's sister Jordy plays a huge part in the book and I loved seeing how close she and Jared were. Little Ole was cute and a certain OPP officer intrigues me greatly. I hope we get a book or at least a novella featuring those two.

I also LOVED that this was set in Canada...HELLO, home country here. We need more books set in Canada. I laughed my butt off when Jared and Jordy looked at Mia in horror when she didn't know the difference between the OHL and the NHL. I loved when the nurse told Jared there was a Timmie's still open. It made me a little homesick, to be honest. In any case, I have a rant to get to so I am going to wrap this up. Personally, I would suggest if detail OW scenes bother you to just skip chapter one and start from chapter two. There are a couple mentions of the heroine having seen the hero having sex, but you will be spared the details along with the...other stuff.

So my rant...The first chapter of this book was SO not needed and really had NO POINT in my opinion. Oh, I know that author wanted to show us that the heroine thought the hero was a player with the whole seeing him having sex with OW and then a pregnant woman shows up at his place a few days later (his sister). But that could have been achieved by simply having the heroine see the pregnant woman and think to herself that she just saw him fucking someone else the other day. I didn't need a full-blown play by play of him fucking the OW. Or the heroine getting turned on by it. AND I certainly didn't need the pages devoted to him seeing his nasty covered dick and realizing he didn't use a condom complete with more pages of him having the birth control talk and STD talk with the OW. Why? Because NOTHING comes of it. His dick doesn't fall off. No "OMG I am pregnant" baby mama drama. After that talk, they part on good terms and she is NEVER HEARD FROM AGAIN.

All that chapter achieved was to gross me out and disconnect me from the hero before I even had a chance to CONNECT with him. Look I don't usually mind OW/OM stuff if it before the couple meets, but it needs to ADD something to the story. Have a purpose. Come into play at some point. This was just a bunch of gratuitous crap that felt like it was added to pump up the word count. It all could have been presented in a general way. The nitty gritty details were not needed and yes, took some of my enjoyment away from an otherwise excellent book