2 out of 4 stars
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Heartaches 3: Bad Boy Vibes by H.M. Irwing is the third book in the romantic series. It continues with the love saga of Anna Simmons and Rafe Brown. Anna is a traumatized rape victim. She finds love and comfort in an erstwhile soldier Rafael Brown. However, they and their loved ones are not far from the perils of their haunting past. They must stop Aunt Bella before she does the mistake of marrying Peter Preston. They must also outsmart the villains, Preston and Dayton and expose their drug nexus. Do they succeed in these missions? Do they make peace with their turbulent past? Does their love triumph the odds? H.M Irwing spins a racy romance packing it with the action of a crime thriller.
The best part of the book is the growth trajectory of Anna’s character. Thankfully, she doesn’t stay flat throughout the book as a vulnerable maiden waiting to be rescued by her knight in shining armor. The book opens with Anna still reeling and haunted by gory dreams of her tragic past. But, with the progress of the novel, Anna gains confidence. She journeys from a diffident damsel in distress to the confident femme fatale who dares against all odds to rescue her lover. This transition is remarkable. I loved the author’s effort in trying to portray dynamic characters with multiple facets. We get a glimpse into the inner motives and predilections of even the generic bad characters.
The book has many twists and turns that some of it fail to register and sink in. We skim through one event after the other never indulging at the moment. This lack of indulgence hampers us from feeling the pangs and pains or joys of the characters. I hated that some of the plot moments defeat our reasoning. In the opening of the book Suzi and Anna plot a revenge. However, the revenge plot falls flat on the reader. It is a striptease for the rapists. How does it even qualify as a revenge defies my reasoning. It borders absurdity. One of the strands of the plot continues the love track between Pat and Dan. It’s a refreshing tale of love but sadly pitted with all the clichés of acceptance of parents and society. In the end, Charlotte, Jason Preston and Matt Preston accept their follies, forgive their misgivings and turn over a good leaf. Although it looks nice on paper it takes away the realism of the book makes the plot look too contrived.
The narration is in third person omniscient narration predominantly from Anna’s point of view. The language appears inconsistent. In the exposition, the language is poetic and lyrical. It has a series of pathetic fallacies and at times weighs the reader with its dense images. Take for instance the lines “The skies above rumbled its disagreement”. But, this dense language gets diluted and becomes too prosaic as the novel progresses. The diction thus lacks consistency and come across as patchy.
I would give the book 2 out of 4 stars. I would have given more if the plot had more depth in its execution. I recommend the book to all lovers of chick lit and romantic novels. It’s not appropriate for young readers because of its explicit content. As mentioned already, the novel is the third book of the series. I had not read the first two books and this hampered my initial reading of the book. I took the time to get acquainted with the characters and in putting together all the tidbits from the past. Hence, I would suggest the readers to read the series in its order to relish the reading experience better.
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Heartaches 3
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