Stockholm

by Leigh Lennon

[Eve1972]

 
 
~WRITING - PLOT - PACE~
This is one of those times where I enjoyed the story but the execution just wasn't that great. I felt the plot was engaging and very original, but the writing was a little amateurish and some of the dialogue was cringe-worthy. We constantly go back and forth in time from past to present. On top of that, we have multiple POVs and three different interconnected stories being told. All those things made the story a bit confusing and convoluted a lot of the time. I also felt that so much page space was given to Taylor's story, and to Libby, that I never felt overly connected to Nolan/David and Mikayla/Collette. I will say that I did really enjoy the last 20-30% of this book. I felt it was the strongest part of the entire book and I loved the little TWIST the author gave us at the very end.


~MAIN CHARACTERS~
With the multiple POVs and storylines, this book really didn't have a hero or heroine in the traditional sense. I enjoyed both Nolan/David and Mikayla/Collette characters. I wish both of them had been a bit more fleshed out. Or that their story had gotten more page space, but it was what it was. I also enjoyed both Taylor and Libby and I hated Blake. 


 


~HEAT LEVEL~
Low. There are a handful of mildly erotic sex scenes in this one. The frequency felt organic to the story. Personally, I would have liked to have seen a few more, mostly because I struggled to feel Nolan/David and Mikayla/Collette's connection (especially in the past scenes). Again, this goes back to my feeling that their story got lost a bit amongst all the other characters.


~ANGST LEVEL~
Low. Honesty, for a book about a kidnapped and held captive girl this book was very low on the angst scale. Except for Mikayla acting like a three-year-old by swearing and throwing books at Nolan, these two pretty much became a solid couple four months after he took her. There is a bit of angst in regard to the other storylines (Taylor and Blake, and Libby and Adam) but nothing over the top. There was also no OW or OM drama.


~IN THE END~
This one was a mixed bag for me. I thought the story itself had SO much potential, but it just fell short in a lot of places. Overall it felt a bit chaotic with too much going on. The entire kidnapped/captive angle got lost amongst all the other storylines. I needed more focus to be on the Nolan/David and Mikayla/Collette storyline to fully connect with that part of the story. It was almost like the author wanted to tell everyone's story and because of that none of them felt fully fleshed out. I don't know. I just didn't 100% connect with this one as much as I had hoped to. But like I said, I think the bones were all there and in a publishing world where every trope has been done ad nauseam this author's storyline felt refreshingly original. Therefore yours truly is going to give this one a solid thumbs up. 


SIDE NOTE: I'll be honest, I am not sure if the author meant to name the RCMP the ROYAL MOUNTAIN POLICE or if she legit thought that is what they are called. They are not, they are actually called the ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE. I can't even begin to tell you how annoying I found this as a Canadian. *lol*