Buried Alive

by Stacey Marie Brown

[Eve1972]

NOTE: This coming year I have set a challenge for myself of reading one book a week that takes me out of my comfort zone. A book that may include one (or more) tropes (scenarios) that I avoid like the plague. Cheating. Older women/younger man. OW drama. Just to name a few. Nothing is off limits. I am taking a HUGE step out of the box I live in and charting a course into the unknown (HaHa). My reviews for these books will differ from my usual as I will focus more on whether the author wowed me despite it having content I avoid. That said, I will go into each book with an open mind and an open heart and who knows, maybe I will discover a new favorite author on the way





~THIS BOOK INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING TROPES (SCENARIOS) I USUALLY AVOID~ (don't click if you don't want the book spoiled!!)
-- Older Woman/Younger Man
-- Sibling sharing
-- OW drama
-- Extreme manwhore hero
-- Hero is with OW after meeting and having feelings for the heroine 


~WRITING - PLOT - PACE~
I found this one to be very well written. The pace was great. The plot was engaging and even though it had pretty much EVERY trope and scenario I hate in my romance books it still kept me turning the pages. I loved that it was set in Canada my home country. I figured out what the twist was very early on and It almost had me throwing in the towel. Alas, I kept going to see if I was right and I was. Hannah had a relationship (kissing, no sex) with Rhys's brother. There was also another twist at the end I did NOT see coming and it left me a bit stunned.



~HERO~
Rhys, I didn't love him. I didn't hate him. He was your typical cliché over the top arrogant manwhore and I am exhausted with cliché manwhores. Not to mention he was only 21 but had the sexual past of a forty-year-old...sigh. Honestly, his character didn't have much depth apart from being an arrogant douchewhore. 



~HEROINE~
Hannah was a decent heroine. She was older than Rhys and we all know how much I dislike the older woman/younger man thing. That said, she was barely four years older, so it didn't bother me overly much. I don't have much else to say about her. I liked her. I didn't understand why in the world she would want ANYTHING to do with the walking STD Rhys, but crazy makes the world go around so c'est la vie.







~SIDE CHARACTERS~
There was a good cast of secondary characters in this one. I loved Siena. She was a female version of your typical manwhore character. I also liked Shaun and would love to see a little novella with him.


~HEAT LEVEL~
This was light on the spice. For a book that constantly harped on what a whore the hero was, it was tame in the sex department. The first sex scene doesn't even take place until 65%. That said, the ones we get were suitably hot.


~ANGST LEVEL~
Highish. I didn't find it particularly angsty per se. There was just a lot of things I don't particularly like in my romances that made it more on the angsty side for me. There is a TON of OW drama in this one. Tons of mentions about the hero's manwhoring ways. OW popping up throughout the book. The hero is with OW after the author has built up the attraction between the main characters. There wasn't an OM drama. I wish there had been so it would have offset the nastiness of the hero's whoring ways. *lol* There was also a lot of push/pull on the part of the heroine.


~IN THE END~
To be honest, this book was doomed from the start. As soon as I figured out it had sibling sharing along with an older woman/younger man, I knew I would not love it. There were several times I debated with myself about throwing in the towel. But the entire point of this challenge is to step out of my box and despite the plot having things that turned me off I still found myself thinking; just a few more pages and then I'll call it a day. A few more pages turned into a few more chapters and that turned into me finishing the book. I didn't hate it. I didn't love it. It was a middle of the road read that was very well written and had an interesting plot. Unfortunately, sometimes even those things can't get you past personal hangups and had it just been one or two things I might have gotten over them, but NO, this one had just about EVERY SINGLE THING I hate in romance books and that is what ultimately brought this one down FOR ME. So be sure to keep in mind when you are deciding on whether or not to give this one a chance that this review is solely based on MY feelings and you may well not be bothered by or have the same hangups as I do.