Saturday 26 April 2014

Forever Black By Sandi Lynn



This is a billionaire romance novel, with it's own spin. It had a really good start and then they had sex and it all went in the crapper :(

'Forever Breaking up' is my title for this novel. I am not surprised this book has so many installments because Sandi Lynn is not short of issues for this couple to knit pick and bicker about. They are incapable of being on the same page with everything in life. They are drastic and dramatic, as they spend more time fighting and apart than they spend together.

I don't know when they fell in love or decide to become a couple, because one minute they decide on a friendship and it's going good. Next thing I know, their a couple and every single thing on God's green earth is a fight between them! They are complete opposites, but when they aren't at each other's throat, they make the cutest couple, especially Ellery from Connor's POV.

Chunks of this story were missing. There were numerous conversations, decisions and emotions that we weren't apart of and only got the end result. Points in question ... them turning a couple; getting married; having a family. The last time I left them, they were fighting a life threatening illness that I think might have left and came back a third time. There is an air or mystery and their is just complete ignorance. Guess where the readers fell? -_-

I had hoped that the sex scenes could have been traded in for one on one time getting to know someone else other than Ellery, whether it be Connor or her relationship with Peyton. If they had gotten one full sex scene and then elude to the act thereafter, that would be fine. As is, they were basic, uninspiring and weren't as steamy as I would expect from Connor Black. They were pretty vanilla and I forgot them as they were over.

Most of the conversations, especially between Ellery and some minor characters, were jumbled and confusing. It was abrupt in it's flow like most major changes in this novel. They were instantaneous, angry, confusing and ended as soon as they began. The one thing I can give them as a couple, is their fights. They were epic and done with great conviction and execution. It had the right amount of insecurities, reactions and conviction.

Even though as a reader, we were able to quickly decipher her illness, I respected and connected with her more when she was being pumped with pills and chemical cocktails. People's reactions to illness, no matter how brief, can't be helped. This section of the novel stripped both her and Connor and gave us a side of them we never get. It was vulnerable and showed them leaning on each other as she fight for her life and he tries to hold it together for her while she fights. They were the model couple when she was screaming, crying, vomiting and fighting for her life.

Yes, she is selfish, but I like Ellery. Love her name a lot also. She has her faults and she is one crazy woman, but I happen to like crazy. She was fiery, out spoken and full of sarcasm and wit. I like that she wasn't shy and she did what she wanted and spoke her mind frequently. She isn't allowed to judge anyone ever in life, but when she decides to take her's serious, she makes a good heroine that whether you are ill or not, you can relate with. Let's be real ladies, we have had one or more of these fights with men in the past.

I don't know enough about Connor to make a sound judgement on him, because we really spent a lot of time with Ellery and she spent most of it running from him. His family is eccentric to say the least and he seems to carry around every one's baggage in life. The women in his life seem intent on driving him crazy and while he isn't the best at resolution and being the bigger person, he works it out occasionally. There is literally one chapter in this novel from his POV and I believe it is the driving force behind me reading the rest of this series. That and the potential of reading their future children stories, something we hardly get in this genre. It was through this POV that I got to know the man behind his financial situation and the fact that he attracts more women than a gynecologist.

I always hated novels that make it seem like women are catty wenches who bat their eyelashes at the heroine's man every where he goes. This book has it in spades! It's extremely unrealistic and made me wanna cage him and donate him to the Smithsonian with how ridiculous it was.

Potentially epic story line, with a weak development and progression that failed the overall body of work. Ellery and Connor could work, because they are passionate and able to withdraw both good and bad from each other. We, on the other hand, need to know them pass their hangups.

The illness elements of this novel saved it for me and gave it dynamics. However, it wasn't enough to cover up the horrendous conversations and lack of proper development, progression and most importantly for them, transition. It felt rushed and summarized and I feel that it needed more pages, time and details.

It could have been epic and I am disappointed it gave up half way.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17286162-forever-black

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