Entangled

Entangled by Melissa Brayden

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’m very firmly down the middle of the road with this one. It was good, but there wasn’t anything about it that really made it stand out. The characters were likable, both the main and secondary ones. The story had a decent amount of drama as well, but everything felt just a bit too neat. The pacing flowed well, though for me personally everything happened a bit fast between the two main characters. I felt like there were a few moments of temporary drama that could have been built on more. It was overall not bad, just lacked something that could have pushed it over the edge.

Full Review with Spoilers

I really struggle with how I feel about this one. For starters it was good. It was well written, the characters were all likable and the pacing was decent. I felt like it lacked something to really make it stand out for me. The drama was predictable and I was a little disappointed that the main characters got together rather quickly. I do understand that Becca had zero reason to hold a grudge against Joey, but I did feel that Joey caved faster than I would have expected. It felt like moments of drama were added for just that moment then they didn’t seem to affect the story very much more after that.

All of the characters where very quirky and the banter was pleasant and entertaining. The characters had a lot of personality and the ones that had known each other for a long time really felt that way. I found the snippets of details unrelated to the story interesting too, like Madison and Gabriella’s past relationship. The dynamic felt believable, if maybe a little cheesy.

Joey’s insecurities about her relationship with Becca where the best part of the story. Her internal struggles were believable and I did find myself feeling bad for her to a point. It is frustrating to see a character choose to sabotage their live when things are going well, but it is something I can see happening to certain characters, like Joey.

The way things seemed to tidy up so neatly by the end was very predictable, but I can’t decide if I would have preferred it any other way. I don’t imagine there would have been a better way to save Joey’s vineyard than having the deal originally meant for them with the Jade Resort to come through last minute. I did like that Joey needed a harsh does of reality from her ex to finally get her act together. Even her ex Simone was a likable character.

Overall it wasn’t a bad story. It didn’t have a huge amount of drama and a lot more fluff otherwise.

Reviewer’s Note: I feel it’s worth mentioning that my opinion of this book reflects my thoughts in relation to the author’s previous work. If this is your first experience with her books, I feel the opinion will be much higher. My views are slightly biased based on the repetition of a particular character type that seems to appear in all of the author’s books.