Elaine White's Life in Books

Book – Acceptance (Forbes Mates #3)
Author – Grace R. Duncan
Star rating - ★★★★☆
No. of Pages – 236

Cover – So cute!
POV – 3rd person, dual POV
Would I read it again – Yes.

Genre – LGBT, Contemporary, Shifter, Wolf, Jaguar


** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY THE AUTHOR, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine


I looked forward to this story since the minute I read the first interaction between Quincy and Miles at the end of the previous book in this series. Not only does this one get straight into the action, with Quincy still on the run and separated from Miles, but it maintains a good pace throughout. The relationship is strained with the forced separation, but somehow they still manage to keep the chemistry and hope alive.

As main characters, Miles and Quincy are just as loveable and full of chemistry as always. Their interactions are both fun and full of heat, even as they go through the long road of trouble and chaos. Though they're different species, they find a way to be together, to work together and really learn about one another, even when they're not together or when things are hard.

I really liked that we got to see all the previous characters back together again – Finlay and Tanner, Chad and Jaime – as well as a few new characters of cats and wolves alike.

However, there are a few down points to this story. Though I loved all the previous books in this series, this one had some issues. There was no definition of memories; they were just included in the main text and because the entire story is in 3rd person past tense, there were times when you couldn't tell whether it was supposed to be present time or in the past. A clear distinction of the two would have helped eliminate this issue.

There were a few really annoying bugs where sentence phrasing, spelling/grammar and the tense weren't as they should be, making it read awkwardly. On top of that, the story slipped into present tense a few times; 1 – “being how they're supposed to be” – 2 – “having a mate near can help.” Neither of which are dialogue, which could have made sense or been excused. There are also some really odd placements of italics that don't read well or place stress on the wrong words for the meaning of the sentence. It's a little odd and made me question the meaning or re-read the paragraph a few times, to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

There's also a lot of repetition in the story – Miles being bisexual, expecting a male or female mate but never a cat; Quincy being shocked when his dad is nice; the story about Chad and the skunk and acting like a pup, while a new wolf. All of these are repeated more than once throughout, almost verbatim. It got a little tiresome at points, having to keep rehashing the same conversations over and again. There was also a lot of “tilted his head” which appeared to mean something to the characters, but was never really explained. It was some sort of secret code or animal instinct, from what I read, but it was never explained and only ever really deemed that one person should obey the other while somehow knowing exactly what they were thinking.

Consistency and description were also problems. Example; at one point, we start a new chapter/scene with Quincy flopping into a seat. But we don't know where this is, when it is or where the seat is (they've just left one room and may be in another, a hotel room or anywhere). It's not until we get to the end of the scene that we find out where this is. It was confusing, trying to pinpoint where they were, where they were going or why.

I found the epilogue just as confusing. I really don't want to give spoilers, but there was no explanation of how or why the epilogue happened. Let's just say that it has something to do with biology and some specific resemblance descriptions, that are never explored or explained.

I assume this is the final book in the series, due to the Epilogue being the first in the series that takes place years later. Though I was kind of hoping that the Scribe or Riley might get a story, I imagine this might be for the best. The series has been fantastic, but this one fell short on the editing side which was a problem the other stories didn't suffer from.

~

Overall, it felt like the editing was too slack for the exceptional series this has been. Hopefully it will be cleared up before publishing, as this was an ARC, but who knows.

The story and plot was fantastic, sticking to the great quality of the previous books. But there is definitely an issue with the editing, which is what the last star was docked for. With the characters and overall family feel of this series, it could run on for a long time and I'll read every book, because the stories never fail to grasp my heart and make me root for the characters. However, it will be sad to see the end of this series, if the Epilogue is any indication. The whole thing is wrapped up so cleanly, with everyone getting their HEA, that I can't imagine there are more on the cards.

It was a great way to end the series, though.

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Favourite Quotes

“Hey, I wonder if we can buy exploding pens at Staples...,”