Reviewed by Valerie
TITLE: Adverse Conditions
SERIES: Reclaimed Hearts #1
AUTHOR: Elle Keaton
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 230 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 30, 2023
BLURB:
The town is worth saving, as long as conspiracy theorists, serial killers, and Vincent Barone all stay out of Xavier’s way.
Xavier swore he’d never move back to the flyspeck of a town he’d grown up in and he kept that promise for over twenty years. Now he’s back for good.
Vincent never left. After earning his teaching certificate, he stayed in town to be close to his elderly parents. These days he’s the single dad of a fifteen-year-old daughter and working two jobs to make ends meet. He’s perfectly happy with his life.
Xavier’s mission is to save Cooper Springs. But his efforts are being hindered by his stodgy, straight-laced, rule-following neighbor, Vincent Barone. Dark-eyed, broad-shouldered, and muscly Vincent, who Xav stealthily ogles when he toils in his yard sans shirt. For a high school shop teacher, Vincent is too sexy. And he has a kid. And he infuriates Xavier. And anyway, love is for suckers.
Vincent doesn’t have time to date. And he certainly wouldn’t date his flashy, arrogant, neighbor who he absolutely did not have a crush on in high school. Who did Xavier think he was, moving back to town and throwing his weight around, causing butterflies in Vincent’s stomach, and making his stupid heart beat faster every time he saw him?
Cooper Springs has changed since they were kids, and maybe two guys can move from hate to love. But are they ready? Will Vincent bend a few of his rules? Will Xavier reign in his chaotic tendencies? Is love in the air?
Then there’s the matter of the grisly discovery in the woods, murder is bad for business.
REVIEW:
Adverse Conditions is the opening book in Elle Keaton’s new Reclaimed Hearts series. It’s a low angst, opposites attract, small-town romance supposedly with an enemies to lovers trope, but really it’s more that they annoy each other, not that they’re enemies. I enjoyed the dynamic, but I was expecting all out enemies and the fun that can bring to a novel.
Vincent is a real estate appraiser and high school shop teacher. He loves living in the small town he grew up in in Washington State with his fifteen year old daughter, Romy, whose mom – Vincent’s ex-wife – took off and deserted them. Xavier, a realtor, returns to his home town after a couple of decades of living in the city. Both men have endured heartbreak so neither is interested in a relationship.
The blurb mentions a murder so I was expecting a mystery, maybe some suspense, but what was delivered was a huge, gaping, Grand Canyon sized plot hole. There’s an unsolved murder, plus an unexplained, mysterious incident in the first chapter that’s never mentioned again, AND the case of a missing girl that’s never investigated. I wouldn’t even call this a cliffhanger because the author didn’t generate enough interest for me to care. It just wasn’t a compelling book for me.
There were some good “small town” characters, but overall, the town of Cooper Springs felt dull instead of charming or even eccentric. It’s unfortunate because I did enjoy the main characters and their romance. If that had stood alone, I would’ve rated this book much higher. I feel like it could’ve been so much more. At least there’s an HEA, although the end comes very suddenly.
RATING: 
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