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My Review:Title: Bridget's Bane
Author: Ruby Dixon
Series: Icehome #13
Published by: Tantor Audio
Release Date: November 30, 2021
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Sean Crisden, Felicity Munroe
Length: 10 hours and 35 minutes
Genres: Romance, Erotic Romance, Science Fiction
Source: Hoopla
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2022 COYER Fall
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ IndieBound ✩ iTunes ✩ Libro.FM ✩ Chirp
My rating:
Blurb:A’tam is the worst.
Sure, he’s the prettiest man on the beach, but he’s a terrible listener. I’ve told him a dozen times that we’re not compatible - in SO many ways - and he refuses to take no for an answer. He had his chance with me, and he blew it.
But A'tam thinks we should be mates. He thinks he can just woo me enough to change my mind. He thinks that sultry kisses and soft touches are the way to a girl’s heart. He thinks that if he shows me that he can be everything I need, I’ll just fall right back into his arms and forget the past.
And….sigh.
He might be right.
Because I want him again and I really, really shouldn’t.
4 stars — You know what? I wasn’t looking forward to Bridget and A’tam’s book. They seemed like drama and over the top, and I don’t know… I sincerely saw them as everyone on the beach saw them. But you know what I got instead?? A book with a lot more depth than I was expecting. Bridget, in particular, was fascinating, and had so much going on underneath her surface.
I was a bit worried at the beginning when both of them were so focused on the “perfection” of the other’s looks….it fed into exactly what I was expecting, and I just need more than physical lust to get me going with a book. But then wham! We get some cute flirting followed by the WORST night, and I was intrigued. I started to see them connecting a bit more, and even though I could still see how the rest of the tribe saw them, I was starting to understand everything they were missing.
Bridget is SOOOOO damaged. Her Mom did a number on her, and it’s still got its claws sunk deep. My heart ached for how she was “trained” to see the world and other people. I genuinely felt for her, because while I don’t have the damage, I do worry a LOT about what other people think and am sensitive about people’s reactions. So to say I was shocked with the level I connected with Bridget would be an understatement, but, well, there you go. I’ll get to her growth in a sec.
A’tam was a bit harder for me to connect with. He was so impatient, and he really was the WORST listener. It took me awhile to warm up to his “boyish charm”, and see the teddy bear underneath. There were a few moments, a few things we learned about him in the past that really helped me finally understand him a bit better. While he may not individually be a fave, I actually really fell in love with them as a couple….which is weird.
Why weird? Because they have so much passion, and they fight a lot, and I am sooooooo averse to fighting and public displays, that it made me cringe. But seeing them still be drawn to one another, even as they didn’t understand each other all the time…I don’t know, it got to me. I loved seeing them work on Bridget’s project together. I loved those quiet moments. I loved how they really did make a connection outside the physical, and they cared for one another. And bring in Steph, and while it was a bumpy start, it was really satisfying to see them working on their own issues so they could meet each other in the middle. They had their stumbles, but that just made the end of the journey more satisfying.
And don’t even get me started on how much I loved that Ms. Dixon tackled bad sex in this book. I mean, who does that? Especially in erotic romance? But this is a real issue, and I appreciated how it was dealt with.
So yeah. I’m still debating 4 or 4.5…I wasn’t sure with the start, but I think I was just so pleasantly surprised.
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