Review: This Time Is Different by Mae Wood
Note: This ARC was provided by the author via Give Me Books Promotions in exchange for an honest review.
Mae Wood is a new-to-me author, making her latest release, This TIme Is Different, my first ever read from her. This contemporary romance set in Michigan has a Thomas Popov, fifty-three-year-old widower and father of three twenty-somethings, and Amy Forsythe, a thirty-eight-year-old divorcee and mother to a teenage son. When Thomas, an administrator at a private hospital gets smacked in the jaw while playing softball, the orthodontist who ends up taking care of him is Amy. While his main memory of her is as the angel who rescued him, Thomas is smitten by the more human version of Amy, and vice-versa. The attraction between them is a given, but they've both got a lot of baggage as well. Amy has already had the husband whose world revolved around her; now divorced for three years, she wants a man who's lived life and has a life of his own. On the other hand, Thomas still misses the wife he lost eight years ago, but something about Amy makes he want to see where their dating will take them. Are Thomas and Amy headed for disaster or is it possible that, maybe, this time things will be different?
This love story was, indeed, different from the norm. There's a fair amount of angst, mostly courtesy of Thomas's and Amy's respective children who waffle between being supportive of their parents dating to not at all thrilled at the idea that the former significant other is now being replaced. The angst, of course, drives the drama, but surprisingly enough, it isn't as overboard as it could have been. Whatever issues are stirred up are smoothed out sooner rather than later, although I do wonder about the whole job transfer on Thomas's end. For the life of me, I can't recall if it was resolved or not--and that isn't a good sign. I'm not saying the book isn't well-written because it is. I appreciated the fact that this wasn't like every other romance out there and I liked that the main characters were more mature in terms of age. It's just that the whole story came off as more middling than anything else. While I confess to a need for angst, I don't require a heck of a lot of it; but what I do look for is something to hold my attention for the duration of the read, and with This Time Is Different, my attention did falter at times. 3.5 stars. ♥
This love story was, indeed, different from the norm. There's a fair amount of angst, mostly courtesy of Thomas's and Amy's respective children who waffle between being supportive of their parents dating to not at all thrilled at the idea that the former significant other is now being replaced. The angst, of course, drives the drama, but surprisingly enough, it isn't as overboard as it could have been. Whatever issues are stirred up are smoothed out sooner rather than later, although I do wonder about the whole job transfer on Thomas's end. For the life of me, I can't recall if it was resolved or not--and that isn't a good sign. I'm not saying the book isn't well-written because it is. I appreciated the fact that this wasn't like every other romance out there and I liked that the main characters were more mature in terms of age. It's just that the whole story came off as more middling than anything else. While I confess to a need for angst, I don't require a heck of a lot of it; but what I do look for is something to hold my attention for the duration of the read, and with This Time Is Different, my attention did falter at times. 3.5 stars. ♥
Release Date: 12 October 2017
Date Read: 11 October 2017
Learn more about Mae Wood.
Purchase This Time Is Different on Amazon.
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