ARC Review + Giveaway: Riveted by Jay Crownover

“I didn’t connect with this story and characters as much as I wanted to.”
~ Under the Covers

When this series started, I really enjoyed BUILT. It’s a spin off of the Marked Men series so that attracted me to it in the chance of seeing some of those characters. And when I met the new set of characters here, I was hooked. As of late, I’ve been feeling a bit disconnected with this authors’ books. RIVETED was maybe another example of that. I didn’t connect with this story and characters as much as I wanted to.

Part of that is because I didn’t really like the fact that the hero had this perception of himself that I couldn’t fathom. He obviously thinks he’s broken and no good for the heroine from the start. But when we start seeing why he thinks that, I just wanted to shake him and scream “COME ON”! There were some things about his character that I was hoping would redeem him in my eyes, but honestly, in the end, I wasn’t connected to him at all. I felt bad for some of the things that he had to go through, but I couldn’t sympathize with how he thought about them and how he’s acted.

Dixie was cute and adorable. At times a bit too positive? But I liked her. I wanted to see her stand up for herself just a bit more, and her happiness depend less on a man. Any man.

All that being said, the sexual chemistry was great. Dixie and Church had no problems in that department. I also really enjoyed the small glimpses of Rome and how protective he was. The bar and Rome’s military men do feel like a family, and that sense of unity and friendship is one of the things that I’ve always loved about Ms. Crownover’s books. In this case, we also get that when they go back to Church’s hometown, and we meet his family. I loved the community and closeness of all of them.

We do get a tease about Dixie’s neighbor, Poppy. She’s definitely someone that needs to be put back together and I’m looking forward to seeing Wheeler do that.