Review: Hard Time by Cara McKenna

Hard Time: Eric and Annie

Summary:

From Goodreads.com

My pounding heart went still, eerie as birds fallen silent in the wake of a gunshot.

He was big. Tall frame, wide shoulders-but not burly. His near-black hair was due for a cut, curling under his ears. Dark brows, dark stubble, dark lashes and eyes.

And he was handsome. So handsome it broke your heart.

A deck of cards was split between his hands, paused midshuffle. Some of the men wore navy scrub tops and bottoms, some navy tee shirts, a few white undershirts. This man wore a tee, with COUSINS stenciled on the front, above the number 802267. Those digits imprinted on my brain, burned black as a brand.

He watched me. But not the way the others did. If he was trying to picture me naked, his poker face was strong, though his attention anything but subtle. His entire head moved as I passed through his domain, but his eyes were languorous. Lazy and half-lidded, yet intense. A hundred looks in one. I didn't like it. Couldn't read it. At least with the horny jerk-offs, I knew where I stood.

I wondered what the worst thing you could do and still only get sent to a medium-security prison was. I hoped not to ever learn the answer.

And I hoped to heaven inmate 802267 hadn't signed up for any of the day's programs.

Review:

I really want to give this one a higher rating as I loved most of it! I adore McKenna's writing style her characters have great depth and she can create a fantastic stories in the most unlikely of places in the most unlikely of characters.

This one started so strong with the love letters, but the second half did have a few issues. It sort of became less of the romance between the characters and more about the anxiety of Eric landed in jail again. I didn’t even so much as have a problem with how he ended up there or even his lack of remorse because sometimes someone just deserves it but Annie just kept hammering at him that this one point pretty much drove the entire second half of the book. My other issue is there is no solid conclusion to the book. If I knew there would be a follow up I'm not so sure I would mind but I have no idea if there is going to be a follow up. We just invested so much time into these characters and its left open ended. I want to know what happens with these two... There are certain things I want some conclusion too I won’t mention them because I don’t want to spoil anything but it’s just like bam story ended and you start clicking along to see if that is really it?! No more pages?! She did this with Unbound too and it made me unhappy then too.

Otherwise I liked the characters, I didn’t even mind so much that Eric wasn't very aggressive in the bedroom more of a pleaser especially after he explained why. Some men are just pleasers and they get off on getting their lady off, I'm ok with that. lol I never really saw Eric as a hardened criminal so it wasn't a hard jump for Logan to fall for this man. I probably would have too. Annie while hammered onto one thing over and over again is a loyal loving person and she really does care for her man. I liked how she gives people chances and kept an open mind.