Archer’s Voice, by Mia Sheridan

Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


So, bad books, work sucks but it’s not too bad? A bit of escapism would be nice? Quickly, grab a fluffy romance novel and laugh, cry, cringe. Sometimes at the same time.

That pretty much covers how I came to read this book – and for a long time, I was absolutely loving it because probably most of us have “leaned back against [our] car and grinned like a fool”. This is Bree Prescott, heroine in this wonderfully sappy romance, fawning over Archer Hale, “the local, mute loner” – well, you get the gist.

This book features a lot of those moments and they were definitely a huge part of what made this book appeal to me.
The writing is… adequate. It’s certainly not great but it fits the overall mood quite well:

“I stared at him, our eyes meeting and tangling just like the first time we had met.”

As long as you don’t actually think about “tangling eyes”, you’ll be fine. There are even a few insights in there that were unexpected, at least for me:

“Maybe there was no right or wrong, no black or white, only a thousand shades of grey when it came to pain and what we each held ourselves responsible for.”

And, at times, it gets very, well, soggy…

“He moved toward me, his lips parting slightly, the look on his face a mix between uncertainty and blatant lust.”

What follows is exactly what you’re thinking of right now. Spelled out. Blatantly. If you like that, you won’t be disappointed.

At times, I actually loved this book and was already thinking how this review would read – raving, that I was sure of. I was touched by little things that reminded me of my wife of more than 20 years. Everything was hunky-dory.

And right before we were happily riding into the sunset, Sheridan royally messes up.

I won’t go into the details but it’s so horribly bad, I felt cheated, lied to – belittled as the reader, Sheridan’s audience. I don’t need to be taken overly seriously but there are limits to my patience and while I suspend disbelief, experience and parts of my brain for a good romance, I won’t be fooled.

With the last few chapters Sheridan really manages to totally destroy the entire book for me. I’m still reeling right now because I still feel abused.

Without that, I’d have awarded this book four stars at least, with this “twist” I cannot help make that two only and an author I will avoid from now.




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