Sandy M’s review of Any Time, Darlin’ by Julia Barrett by Julia Barrett
Contemporary Romance ebook released by Cerridwen Press 30 Oct 08

This is one of those books that has parts you like and then it has parts you really don’t care for.  It always seems too that those latter parts are what ends up making a book just an average read.  I may remember most of what happened a day or so after finishing this one and while writing this review, but I really don’t think I’ll be able to recall anything about it next week.

The biggest thing that bothered me in the beginning was the fact that the hero, who is a paramedic and helps rescue the heroine after she’s been beaten, has an immediate reaction/connection to her. She’s only seventeen years old.  As much as I liked and maybe even admired the hero because of who he is and his profession, I just couldn’t get past the bit that he wants this young girl, especially in her condition.  It just didn’t sit right with me.  Now, later in the book a friend does spell it out for him that because of everything she’s gone through and due to her age, he needs to back off and leave her alone, let her get her life together, she needs time, the usual you get in a romance novel.  Being the man he is, he does take that advice to heart and four years pass before they see one another again.

You’d think that since he did eventually do the honorable thing, and he even questions his attraction to her himself, that that would have helped me out with my dislike of that aspect of the book, but for me it just came too late in the story.  I already had that thought in my head way too long before his honor stepped up, so that idea of it all just didn’t work for me.  Also, the dialogue in the beginning of the book seemed off, the conversations sounded awkward at points.  And the characters did and said things that seemed contrary to what was known of them at certain times in the first half of the book.

But then there was a nice turnaround and the second half of the book was actually not bad at all.  This is the four years later and Jake and Devlin come face to face after all they’d been through together.  She’s still young, 22 (he’s 29), but at least that sat better in the whole scheme of things for me. I really liked the fact that they didn’t beat around the bush after being apart for so long.  They knew individually they had feelings for one another and from the moment of renewed eye contact, those feelings were still there and they barely made it to the airport parking lot before they had their hands all over each other, which was actually a pretty darned good scene.  In fact, the love scenes in this book were all pretty darned good; the one in the garden at the bridal shower is my favorite.  It wasn’t all sex in getting to know one another again, however.  They did talk and did some of the normal things couples would do upon being reacquainted.

The ending came and went little too quickly for me.  A good portion of the book is spent waiting for the villain to return to exact his revenge, a lot of it from his point of view, but once he gets back into town there’s more scenes of the preparation of his revenge than his actually executing it.  When he finally gets his hands on Devlin again, it seemed to be all over before it began.  It just wasn’t balanced enough with all his other goings-on leading up to that point.  I did like the majority of the secondary characters, with the exception of Janice, Jake’s ex-girlfriend.  The author tried to redeem her in the end, but it was just too late by that time.  I didn’t like her one bit, though I am still glad she had a conscience when it was called for.  I also think a couple of the stunts she pulled to get back at Jake and Devlin were just too much, especially the over-the-top scene at the mall with Devlin.

There’s just too many things that didn’t quite work for me to grade it any higher.

Grade: C-

Summary:

A young runaway is found unconscious. Jake McKenna is one of the first responders. She’s desperately ill and has been beaten and sexually assaulted. Jake saves her life and is determined to protect her from the man who is equally determined to destroy her. Ultimately Jake realizes he must allow her to make her own decisions about her future, though it breaks his heart.

Devlin Barre survived the destruction of everything she held dear then learns she has been given into the care of the very person who stole her life. Her risky escape nearly kills her. One man brings her back, Jake. She loves him, but he has his own path to travel. Devlin refuses to become a burden. Brokenhearted, she leaves to rebuild her life.

Years later Jake and Devlin meet again. Has their connection survived? What of the monster who attempted to destroy Devlin? He’s still waiting for the opportunity to finish what he started.

Read an excerpt.