2 out of 4 stars
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Heartaches 3-Bad Boy Vibes by H M Irwing is the third addition of the Heartaches series, and follows lovers Anna and Rafe as they face a dark past that follows them into the present. In the face of opposition, these lovers must fight to keep their relationship, as well as each other, safe from forces threatening to tear them apart. The plot of this book is presumed to follow events from the first two installments.
Personally, this book was not an intriguing read. While the synopsis of this romantic drama seemed mysterious in an enticing kind of way, I found it difficult to keep track of the main events taking place throughout the story. The build-up of events felt very sluggish, and I felt that there was more irrelevant dialogue taking place between characters than there was actual storytelling. Even though I have not read the previous installments to this series, I feel like more attention to detail as well as more focus on building the main plot would have helped to walk me through what the synopsis of the story initially implied.
I was also not very impressed with the characters. Anna, the main female protagonist, felt like she was very much written in the shadow of the main male protagonist, Rafe. This is because the majority of Anna’s dialogue is centered around either talking about her feelings for Rafe, or vocalizing missing him while they are apart. Anna did not seem to be very mentally conscious of anything else besides Rafe. Rafe, on the other hand, is written as a typical dark, broody, and handsome love interest, however his possessive nature over Anna struck me as being more unhealthy than sexy. Adding to this, the relationship between the two seemed purely sex-based, as there was nothing else they had in common. I ended up finding myself more attracted to the romance between two side-characters, Suzie and David, but was disappointed that their slow burn romance seemed to end suddenly on unclear terms. Overall, these characters felt very predictable, but not at all relatable.
There were quite a few grammatical errors throughout the story that ranged from misspellings to incorrect phrasing. While these mistakes can be considered as minor ones, the amount in which they appeared was concerning and gave me the impression that the author did not take much time to proofread. It can also be noted that these mistakes were mainly found in the dialogue portions of the book.
Overall, while there were more elements about this book that I disliked, I appreciated that the author created separate stories for the side characters and allowed them to develop their own identities. As this story contains a briefly explicit sex scene, I recommend this book for mature audiences. In conclusion, I rate this book a 2 out of 4 stars.
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Heartaches 3
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