ARC Review: Celine by Kathleen Bittner Roth

Celine by Kathleen Bittner Roth
Published October 7, 2014
Via Netgalley + Publisher
Goodreads / Buy It Here

Synopsis

He stepped off a jewel of a sternwheeler onto one of the most beautiful plantations in all of Louisiana. And into her life.

Celine's breath caught in her throat. Heat smoldered in her belly. What a sensual man. The scion of the Andrews family carried an aura of personal magnetism so powerful, a sensation close to fright swept through her. She stood still and aloof, masking her emotions. His intense gaze seemed almost a physical touch. She held her head at a proud, haughty angle, not flinching from his bold scrutiny.

In seconds, Trevor regained his cool, casual air. A lusty grin caught at the corners of his mouth, and fire danced in his eyes as he bent ever so slightly at the waist, tipped an imaginary hat, and strode casually into the house.

She would never be the same...

From Plantation era New Orleans to the untamed American West, here is the sweeping, unforgettable tale of a headstrong young beauty and the man she is destined to love.

I almost feel bad giving this book a two-star review. Almost. This book could have oh so very easily been a four, four point five star book if it had stopped somewhere around fifty or fifty five percent. After there, it just seemed forced and to be honest I was disappointed. Especially since everything before that was really good. I kept looking at the percent finished in the bottom corner of my Kindle screen and wondering if maybe it was a glitch. But, no. It just kept going on. To explain why I am so freaking frustrated, I will be spoiling just a bit. BUT THERE WILL BE WARNINGS AND I’LL MAKE THE SPOILERY TEXT WHITE ON MY BLOG SO DON’T LEAVE!

Now that I’ve said all that, let me back up a little bit and explain what the heck is going on here.

After a tragedy that caused her to lose her husband, child and father-in-law, the only family she has left in the world, Celine is lost and broken. Justin, the father to the love interest, finds Celine and takes her in, takes care of her and gives her a place to live while she gets all her chicken in a line. The longer she stays at the family’s lovely plantation (can I live on a plantation? I mean the house the land *starry eyes*) the more the family grows to love her. The less they want her to leave. And then the oldest son comes homes and stirs everything else. Suddenly, nothing is as clear as they once were to Celine.

The sexual tension in the first part of this book, y’all. I mean it was something to behold. And it was really amusing. I found their characters very life like and both of them really likeable. They seemed real. I loved the interactions with the minor characters they had. LIKE THE DRESSMAKER AND LINDSEY! I LOVE THEM, Y’ALL! Those two were my favorite. None of the characters in this book were lacking a backbone. I mean yes, they had their moments, but doesn’t everyone?

If you’ve noticed, I haven’t actually said anything too bad about to the book. So are you wondering why I’m giving it such a low rating? It’s because I pretty much hate the whole second part of the book. There were a lot of miracles (I don’t even know if that’s the right word) that I felt just shouldn’t have happened. Like ***HERES THE SPOILER BEWARE*** if you’re going to kill of a character, keep them dead. If you have an infertile characters, don’t suddenly make them fertile. ***SPOILER OVER****

The second part of the book had Wolf, who I really did like. He was a great character. But I would have gladly sacrificed him if the book would have just stopped where I though it should have instead of going on. And just not have some of the things happened that did happen.

So basically, this was a really well-written book. The writing, word choice, characters were all pretty great. It’s just I was pissed off half of the book.