The Reanimator's Heart

Likely more like a 3.5, but I don't think this book deserves to be listed by me as a 4 star read, so here we are.

As a whole, I did enjoy the book - but I do feel a little let down by what it could have been.

First of all, I'd like to say that the audio narration is kind of odd. Usually in the books I listen to, the narrator changes their voice a little for characters. This might not always be pleasant to listen to for me, but I'm used to it. I'm used to the dialogue and the narrative sounding different, having just a little different tone - especially when it's from the point of view of two - or more - characters. This book doesn't do any of that. The narrator uses the same voice for all characters, for dialogue, for narrative, for everything. I don't hate it, but especially at the beginning of the book, it is a learning curve.

I'd also like to take a moment and state that I wish books would not give so much away in the synopsis. When this books starts off, it feels so unbelievably slow. The book is very deliberate, which I'm okay with, but the problem is that I am waiting for the events mentioned in the synopsis to happen, combined with the very short length of this book, apparently, (apparently, it is only 300 pages long, so says the listing on Goodreads, anyhow) combines to make it feel much longer than 65 pages for the events of the synopsis to actually happen. I think that did this book a huge disservice.

Now, on to the more meaty bits.

I do like the romance. I would like to say that, first. Because I do think that these two are good together. I would like to see a bit more of the Oliver being good for Felipe, because what we see is more of the opposite. But they are good together and I think Oliver does help settle Felipe a bit. I also love the fact that these are two mature adult men. They have had a life, they are not consumed by each other to the detriment of literally everyone else and their jobs. Felipe is old enough to have a daughter in college (I think he's almost 40) and Oliver is not much younger. This I so nice.

However, I did have a little problems with the romance itself. So when our couple gets together, Oliver tells Felipe that he wants to take it slow. This leads into a kissing scene and a bit of a grope. Which is, apparently, taking it slow? Then, the very next day, they have sex. But, don't worry, not ‘actual sex' - as Oliver calls it. Because, apparently, we still exist in a world where the only ‘real' sex is penetrative sex.

Look, even without the voiced desire to ‘take it slow' the speed that they go from crush/dating/kissing/sexing would have been too fast for me. With this voiced, I actually, erroneously, thought that I might like the speed of the romance. (I didn't, obviously.) But it also feels disingenuous to have a character say they want to take it slow, get approval for this from their love interest, and then the speed that kissing and sexing happened. (Oliver requested to take it slow, Felipe initiated the first kiss. This also feels kind of not great.)

And, finally, calling penetration ‘actual sex' will never not piss me off.

Conversely, I did love the fact that, after the first sex scene, all others are fade to black. I liked that the focus for this couple - and, intentionally, the readers - is not sex, but the actual relationship.

However, as you'll notice, I've not said anything about the plot. That's because the plot was the weak link in this book. Well, that and the world building.

I will admit that there were a couple times I was listening to this book while I was at work or exercising and I just started to...fall asleep. My ears just quit listening, so I will admit that some of this may be on me, but the world building is...non-existent. At this point, I cannot tell you how this world works. (Other than the fact that religion hates anything with magic, which...yeah, that tracks.)

During the climax of the story, Felipe makes what feels like a leap of logic in doing something that he seemed to know how it would work, when I don't remember it being explained to us. And, also, I do not remember the various parts of the mystery actually being tied together. As I said, this could be on me. But, considering I don't remember it happening, if it did, it must have been a very brief mention.

And, finally, the mystery. Well... I thought it started well. The case was interesting enough, the stakes were raised and became personal - which is always good, especially when those involved don't hare off with the reasoning ability of teenagers.

I was involved in the case and, for awhile, I liked the romance/mystery balance. The mystery felt like it was getting a good amount of attention. But then it was like the romance took over, the mystery fell to the wayside. What's worse than that, at least for me, by roughly the 60% mark, it felt more like a why-dunit than a whodunit. Because...(keeping this kind of vague) there was more than one person involved. They figured some of the culprits very quickly. I figured out the rest of the culprits as soon as they were introduced to the page. Apparently, with Felipe and Oliver's actions, it was supposed to be some huge reveal, but I saw it coming so that did not have the payoff for me.

Now, that all being said, I am not against continuing this series because I actually like the two leads. I'm willing to deal with my issues, because, over all, this book might have been a little...well, shallow, but it was enjoyable and the characters are likable.