Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Finders Keeper
SERIES: Heart’s Gate #1
AUTHOR: Shira Anthony
NARRATOR: Kenneth Obi
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: November 22, 2017
LENGTH: 5 hours 39 minutes
BLURB:
A Heart’s Gate Story
The truth might ruin his dreams – or make them come true.
When Zane moves into an old gothic brownstone, he discovers the house comes equipped with a caretaker – Kit, who lives in the basement. Zane is immediately drawn to the charming and attractive Kit. But Kit is much more than he seems. He is a 200-year-old half-human, half-red-fox spirit who guards a Gate between the mortal and spirit worlds – a fact Zane should recognize, but doesn’t.
Orphaned at a young age, Zane never learned he comes from a long line of mystical Keepers. Kit needs Zane’s help to protect the Gate, but how can he tell Zane of his legacy when that will crush Zane’s dreams of traveling the world? If he takes up the mantle, Zane will be bound to the Gate, unable to leave it. But when Zane realizes Kit’s true nature, and his own, he’ll have to make a choice – fight to protect Kit and the Gate, or deny his destiny and any chance of a future with Kit.
REVIEW:
I’m sorry to say that this book and I were not meant to be. I liked the premise of the book; I do think there was potential in it. It just…didn’t go anywhere. I might go a bit against the grain when I say that the book didn’t make any sense.
It felt a little bit like random scenes were put together without a natural progression of events. And at the same time I also felt like the book didn’t ever really go anywhere, nothing happened.
Half way in, I was still looking for a plot, for something to happen other than the monologues relating to what you read in the blurb. So moving along to Zane and Kit. I felt like they were a bit one dimensional and flat.
I would’ve loved to see them more fleshed out, a bit more flawed, more personality – and one that didn’t change with the flip of a coin. But that might just be me. I never connected to either of them, or felt the chemistry between the two of them. And they had this strange combination of insta-love and slow-burn, I couldn’t really get a grip on it.
A pet peeve of mine is unnecessary drama. Where scenes are drawn out for dramatic effect only- think soap opera and melodrama. Add some martyrdom, and non-communicating to the mix and the book is in a whole lot of trouble. It’s just too unnecessary, and frankly gets on my nerves. I mean it is one thing to hint at something, to keep the readers guessing, build a suspense, and quite another to add those things for dramatic effect only.
The one thing that actually did work for me was the narrator. Kenneth Obi did a really good job narrating this book and well worth 4 hearts for his effort, but sadly the story itself was not. I will be happy to listen to other works of Obi’s in the future. Just not this one.
This book and I wasn’t a match made in the bookish heavens, so it’s time we part ways. Hopefully the next book by Ms Anthony will be a better match for me.
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