Archer's Voice

Yes!

DNF at 53%

What on earth is this book, and HOW does it have a 4.33 rating?!

Archer's Voice is hands-down one of the worst books I have ever had the displeasure to read, and the fact that there are so many positive reviews boggles my mind. Juvenile writing, weak characterization, and a tragic lack of build-up come together in this book to create a crime against any reader that picks it up.

My favorite line from the portion of this book I read has to be from page 170, where the main character so eloquently describes the situation of cutting our male lead's hair. As she says, "I detected soap, but just underneath that was the musky scent of his maleness, and it made my tummy clench with desire." WHAT THE HELL?! How did that line get past an editor? Where are the beta readers that can prevent things like this from coming out in the final version?? The musky scent of his maleness?? What is he, a dog? Also, TUMMY CLENCH WITH DESIRE? Bree is a full-grown woman, and she said TUMMY in this situation?! I viscerally reacted when I read that line—and NOT in a tummy-clench-of-desire way.

A close second favorite is from page 189, where she says, "I would never purposely hurt this beautiful, sensitive, wounded man more than he had already been hurt." I'm going to throw up in my mouth right now. I get that the "sensitive, wounded man" is a pretty common trope in the romance genre, but NEVER have I seen it so blatantly described in an on-page description. Reading that made me want to hurt this book. If I had a physical copy, I would've thrown it.

I have so many complaints about this book, but I'll try to speedrun the rest of them to avoid the almost three-hundred-word rant I wrote on the author's writing skills alone.

Bree has got to be one of the weakest, most benign heroines I've ever followed. She's not remarkably talented, charismatic, passionate, funny, intelligent—the list could go on and on. Suffice it to say, Bree is boring as all hell. Her trauma feels disconnected, and she seems to reach a level of significant healing from it after a single conversation with Archer. She bikes home the following morning, has an old reminisce about her murdered father, and seems to move on to other things immediately. Maybe I'm too inexperienced with healing from trauma, but that seemed WILDLY disproportionate given the violence of her experience.

Her attraction to Archer is immediate upon meeting him, although their first interaction is awkward and cringy. That interaction grows into a curiosity about him, which leads her to visit his house once they're better acquainted. My point is: are no romance heroines scared of these male leads possibly being murderers?! I don't care HOW attractive this mute, hot, hermit man is; you wouldn't catch me within one hundred feet of a secluded man's house.

Once she and Archer have begun their relationship, she encourages him to open up to his cousin (someone who has tormented him throughout his childhood and has never made an effort at the slightest bit of familial support). We already know the cousin is a dirtbag, so that effort goes about as well as you'd expect: Archer ends up going to a strip club and sleeping with a stripper in a back room. I kid you not. He does this AFTER he and Bree have started their relationship, mind you, even if they haven't put a label on it yet. I don't care how sheltered the man was growing up—if he has the capabilities to teach himself any skill under the sun, I think he'd have enough brains to realize it wasn't a good idea as soon as he stepped into the club. Fair to say, that's where I drew the line in whether or not to continue this book. I can muddle through some bad writing, but forgiving a man after he's been THAT much of an idiot? Hell. No.

If you enjoyed this book, I'm happy someone did! I appear to be in the minority here, with only 1% of the reviews being 1-star, but I had to share my feelings. I'll be the only one to read this anyway, so the odds of my review discouraging anyone from reading this book are slim to none.