Aaliyah's Book Corner

As a huge fan of Sienna Mynx’s Battaglia Mafia series, I went into my reading of Out of Time with excitement. The synopsis made the book seem like a sweet and quick read; Out of Time is 184 pages long. This is the first book where I stopped reading to take a calming breath. Not from excitement or those necessary breaths to calm down after a spicy moment. It was from annoyance with certain aspects of the plot and how the characters were written. Let’s get into the review.

Plot

Kevin “Ice” Quinn is a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Coast Guard. His wife, Asha, is an aspiring lawyer who sacrifices her education temporarily to join him in Maine. One fateful mission, lives taken. Ice survives and as he recuperates from his injuries, he takes his misplaced anger and grief out on his wife. 

After a year and a half of dealing with her husband’s brooding and snarky comments, Asha leaves for New York City and files for divorce. After another time jump, Ice makes his way to the big city. His new mission? Finding his ex and asking for a second chance.

Asha is a successful corporate lawyer and in the budding stages of a relationship with the District Attorney. When Ice manages to get into her office and begs to have a conversation, she angrily turns him away. Ice refuses to give up and pursues Asha until she agrees to go with him. They go back to where they first met and sparks fly as the former couple make amends and start their second chance.

Tropes

– Second Chance: This trope is a hit-or-miss for me and for Out of Time, it was a miss. Maybe because I’m “frigid” but Asha caved way too soon. Ice disrupts her life and career to clear his conscience and …. (I refuse to do spoilers!). He gives an apology but within a few hours together, she was putty in his hands. 

Forced Proximity: Ice and Asha return to the place where they fell in love and where they had hoped to start their lives over. Yet it feels forced. Asha tries to have boundaries but Ice smooths over everything with his longing gazes (*rolls eyes*) and half-assed apologies. The small cabin lends to the proximity aspect.

Characters

Asha Quinn (nee Radcliffe) is a successful attorney and somewhat of a role model to black women, career wise. I give her credit for sticking by her husband even during the cruelty he shows her after the mission that cost him his best friends and unit. She was strong enough to eventually move on but I disliked the character’s choices regarding the second chance. 

Kevin “Ice” Quinn is a badass Lieutenant Commander. He absolutely adores Asha and their love story was cute, especially with him agreeing to wait until their wedding night to have sex. But my “awws” turned to “ughhs” when I read his cruel words to a wife that wanted to help him heal from grief. He made the decision that cost his team their lives but projects heavily onto Asha. 

When he manipulates his way into bringing Asha home and begs for a second chance, I rolled my eyes. Sorry (not sorry) to say that he’s not on my list of book boyfriends.

If it was longer and had a slightly slower pace to really flesh everything out, I would have enjoyed the book more. Compared to Sienna’s other works that I’ve read, Out of Time is the one that I won’t reread in the future. If you like second chances and HEAs, you might be interested in this novel, and you can find it on Kindle Unlimited.

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