...Bookfanatic

...and I’m pretty sure it’s not going to be my last because at the very least be looking for the next book in this series.

Between running his computer programming company with his friends, being the primary caregiver for his 10-year-old niece with everything that raising a 10-year-old entails the last thing that Luke Ryan has time for is a relationship.

Finn Thomason’s new to Boston and with his hours in the ED at the hospital, trying to find himself a place to live and the whole reason he left Chicago there’s no way that he’s looking for a romance.

Yet when these two men spot each other in line at the local Starbucks and then meet again when Luke’s caught without an umbrella during a torrential downpour and stops under the awning of the nearest building to wait out the storm. Not willing to just walk away from someone that they’re so attracted to the two men decide that where there’s a will, there’s a way and some how they’ll find the much needed time to spend with each other.

I can only imagine how frustrating things were at times for Luke and Finn, since I found things to be more than a little frustrating at times. But my frustration was also due to the fact that I really like these two and I wanted to see them together as a couple.

I really can’t say that I would call this story a slow burn, it was more a case of constant progress interruptus… over and over again. You know that old saying ‘life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans’ well for Luke and Finn it was also a case of ‘Life is what happens when you’re trying to have one. While a busy life wasn’t the only problem these two faced at times there was also a definite breakdown in communication; another one of those real life things that can happen sometimes no matter how hard we try to avoid them and sometimes it seems like the harder we try the more things can break down.

Interestingly enough Luke’s niece turned out to be a bit of an emotional quandary for me.  I loved her bad jokes and while I wanted to like her I also felt like she was keeping me at arms length along with Finn and it was this same thing that had me thinking the author did an awesome job portraying her character since given her circumstances she really didn’t come across as a child who would be open and affectionate with the world. Ella knows the pain of having someone you love and who you should be able to depend on more than anyone else in the world leave, she’s not a bad child by any means just one who’s scared of being hurt again. So while I did get where she was coming from I still found myself getting a bit frustrated with her as well.

Overall I enjoyed this story there were a few moments in the pacing that just felt a bit too slow for me causing my interest to wane and ironically at the ending I almost felt like things were a bit rushed…maybe a bit of the story time could have been shifted over to add to the ending but then again if you ask me where to take that time from I’d tell you I don’t know because while there were parts of the story that the pacing seemed slow for me everything connected…so I guess when it comes right down to it, I really just wanted a bit more ending.

One of the things about this story that I actually enjoyed the most was just how easily it was to imagine a relationship like Luke and Finn’s happening in the real world…how many times have any of us made a comment like “there just aren’t enough hours in a day.” Well for some of us that could be a daily mantra and that’s the case with Luke and Finn. I’m really looking forward to the next book in this series with the hopes that it will fill out the ending from this book making me a very happy reader.

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An ARC of ‘Third Times the Charm’ was graciously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.