Hard Time

5 + stars ✨ My. Heart. Could. Not. Handle. This. Book. Wtf! It might be my favorite read of this year. A librarian working a prison outreach program meets a convict who is still inside and begin a forbidden romance that starts with letters. I’ve never read a (semi) epistolary romance before but oh my god this was beautiful, romantic, erotic and heartfelt. I was afraid it would be insta love but it wasn’t, more like lots of lust at first and Annie was definitely quick to jump into it, but this story of two lonely people finding each other was so beautiful. And the HEAT 🥵 But aside from it being a bit heavy on the sex scenes, the characters felt fully fleshed out and I felt them truly getting to know and understand each other. And the LETTERS. My god, the letters. This alpha, protective, honest, loving hero wrote such romantic things my eyes BURNED. The perfect contradiction between his gentle personality and the crime he committed. Ugh. Chef’s kiss. This was amazing. I only wished for an epilogue 😭

Check out this and my other reviews at My Blog, Facebook, Google+, Twitter and Pinterest ★Book Basics★ Genre : - Contemporary Romance Series : - Stand Alone Love triangle? - (view spoiler)[No. (hide spoiler)] Cheating? - (view spoiler)[No (hide spoiler)] HEA? - (view spoiler)[Yes (hide spoiler)] Would I read more by this author/or in this series? - Yes Rating - 5 ++++ stars ★Review★ Having read this author in the past, I have felt with previous books she has left the ending a touch open, sometimes more of a HFN, but with a strong hint of promise that the characters would get their HEA with each other, but I liked how she did it, it allowed for me as the reader to carry on and imagine the HEA in my head that suited me. In this book, it had less of that HFN and more of a settled heading toward a HEA, but still done in that skilful way the author has, of letting us as the reader, build the HEA in our head to suit ourselves. I wanted to read this book ages ago, when it first released, but did not get it on release, then it became unavailable in the UK for a time But I really wish I had read it ages ago, as I loved it, and could have probably had a good couple of re reads in by now. It is not full of over the top drama to try and keep the readers attention, or stalkers, kidnappers etc (not that I do not enjoy books with these in them) but instead characters that are very REAL. The way their relationship started meant it built a very real emotional connection between the characters and between the reader and the story. And it was a sweetly romantic read, but not to say that the hero and heroine did not have struggles to overcome. But again, dealt with in a very real and very relateable way. And it was hot! Due to the connection the characters had, and how you were really rooting for them. This is a definite re read for me and I will not soon forget Eric and Annie, they are one of my favourite couples, and Eric is very much so one of my favourite heroes ever. An emotional, romantic sexy better than 5 stars book.

Find this review and more at kimberlyfaye reads. Hard Time has been on my TBR for ages. One of my friends read it and raved about it a couple years, so I promptly bought it... and then never got around to reading it. Something that seems pretty common in my world, honestly. It wasn't until I was chatting with a group of author friends at Apollycon and it came up again that I decided it was high time I finally read it. Part of me hates that it took this long to get around to it, but the other part is just grateful I finally made time to read it. Because holy crap. What a book. Despite there being several books with a similar premise on my eReader and shelves right now, this is the first time I've read a book with an inmate for a hero. I wasn't sure I'd be able to get into it, even though it really is one of the ultimate forbidden romances, I suppose. That might be why I waited so long to read i, if I'm being totally honest. Any preconceived notions I had about what an "inmate romance" might be like were totally off-base. Starting, of course, with the hero himself. Because my gods, Eric. Eric was amazing. He's easily one of my new favorite book boyfriends of 2017. His crime didn't make him a bad man, neither did the time he spent behind bars. Sure, he was a bit hard... but he was also sweet, sensitive and really easy to fall for. Annie was a fantastic heroine, too. First and foremost, I applauded her work as librarian with the inmates. Not everyone would be brave enough to be willing to put themselves through what she did to try to help others. I appreciated how she worked to make a difference in these men's lives. She was timid and reserved, but slowly came out of her shell thanks to Eric. I loved so much how these two characters came together. The initial chemistry was one thing, but the real fun began when they started exchanging letters. (Which, naturally, was forbidden.) The letters were HOT, but it wasn't all about sex. Yes, there was SERIOUS sexual tension between these two, but there was more than that building as well. There was a sexual reawakening of sorts, but it was more than that. These two characters truly brought out the best in each other, thoughts and feelings that had been locked away for years... for both of them. Eric might've been the one behind bars, but Annie was locked up in her own way, too. I'm not accustomed to seeing this much growth in characters outside the YA and NA books I read. It was such a pleasant surprise here. It was one thing to open up and write letters to an inmate, but things became real and incredibly complicated once Annie learned Eric was being released. Could what started under unconventional circumstances translate into the real world? Did she want it to? Would he? So many unanswered questions. I was so wrapped up in the gorgeous writing and these characters I'd fallen hard as hell for that I felt like I was the one making the tough decision here. Of course, I'm not going to tell you anything more about the plot. It's one you just need to experience for yourself. Hard Time was a great book. It was borderline addictive and I couldn't get enough. Now that I've discovered my love for Cara McKenna's writing, I'm going to have no choice but to devour her backlist. FAVORITE QUOTES His gaze dropped from my eyes to my mouth, the weight of it as real as a kiss. Fuck, I could smell him. Summer and sweat. I wanted to lick his neck and taste the salt on his skin. "Would've been worth anything they took from me, just to hear you say my name." I want to escape inside you. I want to feel your hands on me, and your eyes, and feel like there's nobody else for a hundred miles.