Review: Love of My (Other) Life

Reviewed by Shelly
 

Don’t be fooled by the cover, I have no idea what the cover even has to do with the story. When I first started reading I was reminded of The Time Travelers Wife. Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t even get past the first three chapters of that story; surprisingly this is a far sight better story to me. Tessa Barnum is a 30-something divorcee, existing without a direction. Her co-op apartment is two years behind in fees and she’s working part-time hours with the elderly. Painting... the one passion she has... was diminished by her increasing frustrations with her ex-husband and her art instructor. One day while minding her own business and running late to her part time job, Tessa is approached by a disheveled Brian Tennyson who claims that they’re married ‘in his world’.

There were a lot of things that I liked about this story, but the pacing wasn’t one of them. I thought it was a bit slow in the beginning and Tessa was a bit too old to be so adrift in her life. Also, I’m not sure about that whole parallel universe concept thingie and the way it blends into a romance story, because I’ve rarely seen that work out with an HEA that was, in fact, happy. What I did like was the witty dialogue and the development of the two main characters. Even though the story takes place in a few days, Slatton was able to develop a redeeming story that was interesting to read.

Tessa is quite the hot mess when we meet her – she’s got a good heart but she feels, rightfully so, beaten down by the choices she’s made. Then, Brian comes in with his far-fetched pick up line. It’s rightfully hard for Tessa to believe Brian’s fantastical story and the way he makes her feel. (If she had, this review would not be so kind.) He’s got her doing things that she wouldn’t normally do, but there’s such an inherent connection there that leaves Tessa not knowing which way is up.

Brian, on the other hand, reminds me of Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory, just absolutely 100% nerd until he gets passionate about something. Then he becomes even nerdier. The tech talk was a little distracting until I just started treating it as if I’m watching Star Trek. The chemistry between Brian and Tessa was well done and even though the time frame was short the sex scenes were believable, especially when Brian ‘reads’ Tessa’s sexual state – that actually had me laughing out loud.

Happy Reading Folks!

Rating: B

*ARC Provided by Parvati Press via NetGalley

Click to purchase: Amazon

Love of My (Other) Life

by Traci Slatton

Release Date: January 31, 2013

Publisher: Parvati Press