Where Faith and Books Meet: Carla Laureano: London Tides

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Carla Laureano: London Tides

By Kelly Bridgewater

Back Cover Copy:

Irish photojournalist Grace Brennan travels the world’s war zones documenting the helpless and forgotten. After the death of her friend and colleague, Grace is shaken.

She returns to London hoping to rekindle the spark with the only man she ever loved—Scottish businessman Ian MacDonald. But he gave up his championship rowing career and dreams of Olympic gold years ago for Grace ... only for her to choose career over him. Will life’s tides bring them back together ... or tear them apart for good this time?

My Review:

I was introduced in London Tides by Carla Laureano because I love her The Song of the Seare series by C. E. Laureano. They are both the same author. Laureano’s fantasy series grips me from the first page and kept me raptured as I follow the hero and heroine along the trail. But there is a huge difference for her contemporary romance books.

Laureano’s writing is tight and grammatically sound. In both series, I have no problem following the struggle and fears of the heroine and hero. The balance between the prose and dialogue is evenly matched. Laureano has a good command at matching the dialogue with the character’s personality.

While her writing is good, Laureano has a good grasp at anchoring her reader in the setting. I could totally imagine myself walking along the Thames River in London and wandering through the London city. I could imagine India and watching the characters interact with the hurting nation. Laureano does a great job at describing the world for her readers.

Conflict is important to a story, but Laureano had a hard time keeping my attention in London Tides. The story takes forever to get off the ground. Gabby wonders around in London, staying at her friend, Asha’s house, looking for her next big break. There really is no conflict. Yes, she runs into her ex-fiance, Ian, a number of times, but I really did not feel the struggle between the two characters. All of the conflict occurred inside Gabby and Ian’s head. It was really hard to drag myself through this book. I couldn’t wait for it to be done.

Overall, Laureano writes fantasy that I love, and I think she should keep her focused on that genre. I lost myself in that venue, but I struggled through London Tides, trying to find other things to do instead of sitting down reading this book.

I received a complimentary copy of London Tides from David C. Cook Publishing through Netgalley and the opinions stated are all my own.