I sat on this one for a hot minute, and I feel like for the first time in awhile I have to do a real book review, versus just going on pure vibes. Because I liked this story, and can see how readers will absolutely swoon, but mechanically it was a bit of a mess.

📕 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Claim Me Forever by AL Jackson

📙 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀: Time River series. Book 3. 

📗 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀: ARC e-book read on Kindle. 🆓️ on KU.

📘 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: Romantic suspense

📔 𝗧𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀: Opposites attract, man in uniform, love after loss, found family.

📖 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀: Ezra is the Sheriff of Time River, and when he's called out to check out a trespasser he meets Savannah, who is in town looking for her sister who has been missing for two years. He invites her to stay at his house with him and his children as they work toward uncovering the truth.

🌟 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: It's hard not to get caught up in Ezra and Savannah's love story. Ezra is an incredible MMC - he's a cinnamon roll of a police officer who absolutely loves his children and has a complicated relationship with his deceased ex wife. The way that they their love comes to be, the tension, the adorable moments with Ezra's children - it's all the kind of love story you want in this genre.

But have you ever been enjoying a book and you keep going "oh that's weird" or "oh that's repetitive" enough that you truly have to start thinking deeper? The spicy scenes had super repetitive dialogue, and the ending/underscored suspense plot was underdeveloped. I didn't honestly understand what had gone on with Savannah's sister by the end of the book - and it was all resolved in the last 10% so it felt like an after thought.

It's a little bittersweet, since I did love the romance portion of the book, and I surely have adored this series. There's this darkness and grit, despite it being small town romance, and I loved the previous couples. I'm taking it as a fluke, and definitely will continue to enjoy Time River.

𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 3.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐

𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹: 3.5/5 🌶🌶🌶

𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏 𝑨𝑹𝑪 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘.