Review by rhendel -- Heartaches 3 by H.M. Irwing

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rhendel
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Review by rhendel -- Heartaches 3 by H.M. Irwing

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[Following is a volunteer review of "Heartaches 3" by H.M. Irwing.]
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2 out of 4 stars
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Heartaches 3 by H.M. Irwing is the third book in a series featuring the love story of Anna Walter-Simmons and Rafe Luis Brown. The third installment chronicles the conclusion of their love story, and their journey of revenge against those who have personally wronged them throughout their entire lives. While this is certainly a romance novel, there were some surprisingly dark and uncomfortable situations that Anna and Rafe had to navigate. Fair warning: this book includes content around rape and violence.

I feel quite conflicted about the book – on one hand, I consistently rolled my eyes and felt frustrated reading it, however, I also wasn’t able to put it down. I had not read the first two books in the series, which is likely the reason I found the beginning of the book very confusing. There was not a lot of backstory or recapping, which made it difficult to catch up on what had gone on previously. There also was not a lot of character background, so I struggled to connect to most of the characters throughout the entire book. The actions and storylines of some of the characters were fairly predictable and stereotypical, and I think the story could have benefitted from someone breaking the mold.

I found the main character, Anna, to be an interesting combination of timid, submissive, and volatile. There were times where she showed true strength in the face of a difficult situation, but other times she came across very needy and stereotypical. Considering some of the storylines in the book, I would have liked to have seen her as a strong female character and a true partner to Rafe. I was disappointed with the cliché ending that did not do the entire story justice.

I particularly struggled with the writing style of the author. At times the writing was very romantic and reminded me of Old English, only to be broken up by seemingly random harsh verbiage, such as “shitting a brick”. At times, it felt as if two different people had written the story together, each interjecting with their personal writing style throughout. There were also a significant number of grammatical and typographical errors, which made reading very difficult as I was forced to constantly re-read to understand what was being said. I also noticed a lot of small phrases used as standalone sentences, and while I’m not sure if those were intentional or more errors, it was very distracting.

I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. While I did finish the book, I came away quite frustrated and feeling like I had wasted time reading it. The grammatical and typographical errors were exasperating and I believe it hindered my ability to immerse myself in the story.

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Heartaches 3
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