At first I thought it was just the narrator of the story - she has a great voice for characters, but holy cow she makes EVERY SINGLE WORD animated and like the characters are constantly talking with exclamation points. This made me think "Oh, it's just a bad narrator I should read this one instead." But no, I kept listening and discovered more was wrong.
Next I realized there are things about the character descriptions that bother me and I felt dated the story. For instance - the heroine makes a big deal about the hero wearing a "super cool" diamond stud earring. Ok - to me that dates the story to the 90s when women actually did think that was hot, but not so much for me anymore. I don't see that as the fashion now and to be honest I can't stand a guy with an earring. Maybe this means I'm getting old instead of the story? :)
Moving deeper in, I couldn't believe that one of my fav authors was letting me down. I think I might actually HATE the heroine. I've never hated one of her heroines. But this one is just SO wimpy against her family and others. She WHINES. But the worst offense is that I can't see to justify her motivation for staying in this story.
The entire plot so far has me screaming in the car at the stereo. At one point the heroine says ..."but I couldn't change that now..." when she REALLY could. There is absolutely nothing at all keeping her in the situation by any stretch of the imagination.
Likewise, the family in this book is so horrible and rotten there is NO WAY they can ever be redeemed and then I'm left asking why would the author have centered the heroines emotional journey around them if it was going nowhere. I expect she's going to attempt to redeem them but I find that impossible now.
I'm so disappointed, but I keep listening because I'm hoping in my heart of hearts that my fav author can really pull this one out. It seems doubtful.
What about you? Ever run across an older romance and it felt dated? Found a story by a favorite author that was totally not for you? Did it affect your trying that author again or did you think "She can't write every book perfectly?" I'd love to hear from you about if this has happened to you and what it did to your relationship with that author.
If you're an author I'd love to hear from you too! Do you sometimes look back on books you wish you'd done things differently with - no titles needed just a general answer. :)
