Someone Else’s Ocean by Kate Stewart

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Title: Someone Else's Ocean
Author: Kate Stewart
Published by: Audible Studios
Release Date: November 27, 2018
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Lila Winters, Jason Clarke
Length: 10 hours and 26 minutes
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2019 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2019 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ iTunes ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

The first time I met Ian Kemp in the sparkling blue waters of St. Thomas, I was six years old and we shared a summer beneath the stars.

The second time I met Ian Kemp, he was a shell of the boy I once knew. Turbulent and infuriating, he refused my friendship at every turn. Like me, he was a casualty of life’s cruelty, but we were planets apart.

We’d both sought refuge on the island, hoping to find our anchor. Instead, we found each other and managed to reclaim our stars...until we both got swept away.

My Review:

3.5 stars — Do you ever have one of those books that you’ve heard rave reviews about, and you want to love them more than you actually do?  That ended up being this book for me.  If you love books with a lot of drama and angst, then you should totes give this book a try.  I’m not usually a fan, it really depends…and for me that’s where this book started to lose it for me.  So it really is just personal taste, you know?  It was like I was sitting there listening to it and thinking that if I enjoyed angst, I would be LOVING all the emotions…but for me it was tiring and felt over the top.

Before I go farther, let’s talk about narrators.  I had a mixed reaction on this one.  In general I LOVED both Ms. Winters and Mr. Clarke’s narrations.  They both had great range of emotion, really made both Ian and Koti come to life, solid pacing.  Mr. Clarke’s different voices for different characters were really solid.  Ms. Winters’ weren’t bad, though occasionally I would get confused, particularly between Koti and Jasmine.  And while I LOVED Ms. Winters’ inner voice for Koti, I was NOT a fan of the accents she put on for both Jasmine and Ian, and even to a smaller degree Ella.  In my opinion, Jasmine’s midwest accent had a strong NJ quality to it, and Ian’s South African accent made me think Austrian (like Arnold Schwartzenneger).  Honestly, if you’re not good at accents, just don’t do them.  Mr. Clarke didn’t put on a SA accent for Ian, and I much preferred it.

As for our characters, I enjoyed Koti’s sass, and the dichotomy of her caring side with her fierce side.  I thought the backstory of her panic attacks was interesting, and added something to her personal story.  It felt realistic.  On the other hand her endometriosis baffled me…particularly since she no longer had painful periods after that first one, and I guess I just didn’t understand the whole sex dynamic with Ian.  I did appreciate her friendship with Jasmine, and the two of them made me laugh quite a bit.  It was nice to see a strong female friendship like that.

Ian was…well, sometimes I felt so much for him, and what he was going through.  And sometimes he was just kind of a dick.  I’m not much into alphas, and he was definitely that.  Obviously I preferred his more human/kind side.  And while I didn’t always enjoy his overprotectiveness of his daughter, I appreciated how much he LOVED her.

As for their relationship?  I had a hard time with it.  They could really hurt one another, and at times it felt mostly based on their sexual attraction…which is funny, b/c they did have a strong friendship at other times.  I guess I didn’t understand their sexual relationship, and it’s not the kind that I’m most interested in reading about.

I think I was enjoying myself enough to make up for the things I wasn’t enjoying until the separation.  Then I kind of started losing interest, and the things started feeling more over the top.

So yeah.  An interesting story that just happened to not hit my buttons, you know?  Ah well!