Review: Running on Empty by L.B. Simmons

“This book was sweet…and Blake was just delicious!” ~Under the Covers

I’m going to be totally honest here about a few things.  First, my reason for purchasing this book was solely because I’m a cover ho and I just loved the cover.

The story hooked me from the beginning because it was bittersweet.  It stirred up emotions of the what ifs that I think everyone probably has, and some that might be more personal for me.  I felt bad for Alex because, even after three years from her husband’s death, she seems to be having a hard time still.  Then in walked in Blake, or rode in actually on his bike, and I was smitten.

But as much as I liked the story, there were also things that I felt were not 100% to my liking.  So here’s a small list:

• I believe self pub authors sometimes suffer from the lack of editing.  And I don’t mean just grammar and all that, but the actual content that should be discussed with an editor to see if it drives the story forward.  I felt that this book could’ve been cut to a novella if we took out some of the unnecessary scenes, and repetitive words.  Not that it wasn’t cute to read about every little detail of Alex’s interaction with her three young daughters, because they were adorable, but there was so much of it, I think it would’ve been ok to cut some out and they still would’ve been adorable.
• Alex.  Eeeeek.  Yes, the heroine got on my nerves sometimes.  She gave off really mixed emotions and in the end, I’m not quite sure why Blake would put up with someone like that.  It’s not like he came back into town right after her husband’s death.  It had been three years.  And at least she could’ve shown a minimum of respect and friendship, when she thought it better to be a bitch.
• The notes to self.  Yeah, they were cute in the beginning, and they were cute when they added an insight into her thoughts.  But they started getting annoyed when she KEPT making “notes to self”.

But by the same token, I also loved certain aspects of the story:

• How Blake took care of her and has been sort of waiting for her all his life.  I love stories about childhood crushes getting their HEA.  And this one was extremely sweet since he didn’t think he could ever get that.  And Blake was just delicious!
• The kids!  OMG they were adorable, even when they were a bit much to deal with for my pea brain (there are THREE of them! LOL) but I love to see their love for their mom and then for Blake.  And how they worked to bring them together.
• Loved the breakfast dates.

This book was sweet and I might’ve shed a tear about Alex and how she faced Derek’s accident.  Although it wasn’t the emotional rollercoaster I expected from reading the blurb, I still enjoyed RUNNING ON EMPTY a lot and I will probably continue the series.

Favorite Quote:

“There’s no place I’d rather be on a Sunday morning.”

Did you like this review? If so, please tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

[about-author author=”L.B. Simmons”]