Customer Reviews

If You Were Mine

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love J.S. Hawley's work thus far. But, I must say that there seemed to be flaws in this one. I loved the characters: Jai and Caleb. But the writing itself seemed somewhat schizophrenic. From one paragraph to the next I was often confused. I had to go back and read some sections more than once before it clicked. I think this might be an editing issue, however. It seems that portions of the story were simply missing. I wish Ms. Hawley would be given the opportunity to write a full-length novel because, clearly, she has many ideas in her head. By the end of the novel, I still did not understand fully what had happened with her company, I still was unsure about the mob connection, and, literally, from one paragraph to the next we jump 2 years. The book was everywhere. I found Come with Me an easier read. With all of that said, I would definitely read another one of her books.

Jailyn Wyatt has a wonderful life; she's young, sexy, and successful. Until Dr. Death stealthily creeps into her life and whisks away her very best friend, her father. Lost and alone, she's struggling daily to get her life back on track and climb back to the top of her game.

Caleb Vincent has a lot of demons that he's battling as well as attempting to regain his stature in his career. A fiery telephone exchange between these two leave both a bit intrigued. The renovation of a dilapidated inn triggers the sparks to further ignite between the two.

If You Were Mine is a relaxing read. I loved the in depth discussion and revelation of the blending of the races and colorful array of nationalities. My favorite scene was this description:

Midnight black children with grey eyes and children the color of sand with thick, knotty Afros and cornrows. And white children with dreadlocks and slanted, almond shaped eyes, owing to their Chinese and Jamaican roots.

Wow! What an amazing elaboration! The storyline was consistent, laced with an electric chemistry between the two central characters, a bit of suspense, and familial drama that completed this read.

Reviewed by Tazzyt2bossye
for Urban Reviews

I'm a sucker for romance; I search for those sensual scenes that make me fall in love all over again. In If You Were Mine by J.S. Hawley, I didn't get that feeling--the IT I search for when reading a good romance.

A slow read from the beginning, I was confused by the breaks in the plot that simply clouded the storyline. Characters seemed to come out of nowhere and the timeline baffled me. I found myself having to flip back through the book to wonder if I'd missed something.

On the positive side, there were some steamy love scenes between Jai and Caleb that spiked my "hot" meter, but they were overshadowed by the climax that chugged like the Little Engine That Could but never really made it over the hill . . . Then it was happily every after--however many years later. At the very end, I just felt lost. I'm convinced this was an editing issue, and in the future, I'm willing to give it a try again . . . I did enjoy some of the sex scenes.

2.5 Pink Diamonds
Sistah Tasha of the SistahFriend Book Club

This is my first time reading a J.S. Hawley book. The overall concept of "If You Were Mine" was pretty good and the characters were too. However the book's story lines weren't throughly developed. There were some topics that were introduced that were never followed up on (so you as the reader was left to wonder "where the hell did that come from?" or perhaps you felt the need to go back a few pages to re-read because you concluded that you missed something.)

The last chapter in the book should have been titled Epilogue so the reader knew that time had jumped ahead. Instead one was left scratching their head wondering what the hell happened because the story picked up 2yrs later (with NO transiton.)

As I said, I thought the story to be good and(for the most part) the characters (at least the main ones) good too. But I'm so glad I picked this one up at the library and didn't make it a purchase. The latter would have left me feeling cheated & wanting my money back.

Since a few reviewers have indicated that J.S. Hawley's "Come With Me" is a better read, I'll give that a try (but it will definetly be a library pick up and not a purchase.)

The characters in this book are very interesting. Jai and Caleb both have very strong personalities. Jai is the quintessential artist who works on her own time with a quirky methodology, but there is no doubt that she is very good at what she does. Caleb on the other hand is methodical, committed yet extremely passionate about his work and life. Jai and Caleb get off to the wrong start when Caleb calls Jai's PR firm seeking a new company to represent his business and Jai answers the phone in full "distracted artist" mode. Thinking that the rude and distracted Jai is the receptionist, Caleb almost terminates his interest in Jai's company from the start, but something about her voice and personality peak his interest. The response is mutual of Jai's part as well. This basis of the story would have resulted in an amazing story apart from the mystical, dream heavy twist to the writing that the author utilizes. The writing treatment almost turned me off completely - it is my first novel by this author. However, the strength of the characters and the amazing chemistry between them kept my attention.

I'm hesitant about trying another J.S. Hawley novel, but based on the strong characters may try again in hopes that the writing treatment of this book was a departure from normal.

First, it was a good read, enjoyable, hot, sweet, hot, moving, hot, deep. However, it was very difficult to follow. It was as if the writer didn't tell the whole story. If the full story was told, with the author's talent, I know this book would have been GREAT. But there was just too much left out to really enjoy the story. With the gaps, it made it very hard to follow what was happening. I will, however, reread this book to see if it can get a little more from it, as well as, buy Come With Me. I think the author has a wonderful talent. I just hope Come With Me is a little easier to follow.

Did I mention If You Were Mine was HOT!

I found this book a little confusing at the very beginning but after the fourth chapter I was able to get into the flow of how it was written. You could feel the hotness the author created between Jai and Caleb. (Although there was moments where I wanted to smack Caleb for the comments he said to Jai out of anger.) Just like MS. Hawley 1st novel, everything was well described. I was able to picture everything clearly, As the story moved along.

This is a good story with many characters and sizzling sex scenes that fell short because of poor editing. I get the feeling the original story was much longer but the last few chapters read like snippets from a bigger book and the editor was in a rush to wrap up the story by page 300. Why was Caleb angry? What was the mob connection? Who the heck is David DeAngelo? If you just want a happy ending it's fine, but it's clear there was more to this story than what ended up being printed.

I liked J.S. Hawley's Come Away with me, but absolutely LOVE this book. The heroine Jailyn is quirky, colorful and absolutely wonderful. Couple her with a somewhat repressed, hard to read hero in Caleb and you have got the makings of fireworks! The love scenes are frequent and erotic. The backdrop is an interracial romance (or so it would seem), but the plot is around embezzlement within Jailyn's company. A wild, colorful, fun read which I highly recommend.

I like JS Hawley. She's very descriptive in her writing. This was better than her first novel (Come With Me). Caleb and Jai were great together. You really like Jai's character b/c she's strong and bold and "lives out loud". Caleb is more reserved but she captivates him from the first. There was LOTS of PASSION in this one and I enjoyed all of it. Buy and enjoy!