Review: Holding on to Hope by Sid Love

Bradley Parker has waited twenty years for Mr. Right, and on Valentine’s Day, he finally finds him. It’s love at first sight, and Brad even loses his virginity to the man of his dreams. But when he wakes up the next morning unable to remember anything—even what the man looked like—his best friend, Leslie, is convinced he imagined the whole thing. Brad knows he didn’t make up the best night of his life, but he has no idea of the danger he’s putting himself in as he struggles to recall the details of his perfect man. His search may lead him to parts of New York City he never dreamed existed and a war being waged in the shadows.

So, this book is pretty unique. The cover isn't the only part of this story that's very green--that author's writing could also be labelled as such. It's hard to describe because I feel like it was written by a very new author, and I can see potential. I mean, everyone starts somewhere. I look back on the things I've designed in college and cringe. Terrible. That being said, I think the ideas and the bones of this book were quite unique and interesting, but the execution needs some work. Still, I'm giving this book 2.5 stars, which really ain't bad, because I can see a lot of potential.

The POV is odd in this story. It's from Leslie, the annoying, terrible best friend's POV. I didn't like her. I found her to be self involved to a disturbing manner, and the things she did were annoying, but just because I didn't like her, didn't mean I reflected that in my rating. 

Our MC, Brad, is forced to forget about his sexy encounter(s) with the man of his dreams. Without spoiling the plot, it basically reads like the story is going to be contemporary, then you get a hint of mystery/thriller, perhaps, then straight onto paranormal. This didn't bother me. In fact, I thought it was pretty unique. I'd still read more from this author in the future, because I feel like if he worked on some of the foundations of engaging writing (which comes with practice), the unique concepts he could come up with may be very cool.

The romance was a little wavy, for me, and the characters were all kind of bland. Everyone just fit too much into a stereotype. That being said, I had to keep reading it because it was so bizarre. I literally had no idea what was going to happen. I knew how each character would act given each situation, but I didn't know the situations.

*sigh* Dreamspinner editors. Sometimes I read things from Dreamspinner and wonder if an editor was involved at all in the process. I mean, for content editing. I feel like this story could've become much better with some content editing, perhaps. Maybe a beta-read or two more than this book had, prior to submission.

Regardless. I think this book was pretty okay, and I think this author has some potential, especially in the M/M Paranormal genre. Everyone has to start somewhere, and I think the bones of this story were quite refreshing.

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