An entertaining opposites-attract romance
Sienna Waters is a well-established women-loving-women author with almost 30 books under her belt. Despite that, this is the first book I’ve read by her, I’m not sure why I’ve never tried to read anything before. I was looking for a break from my usual authors and narrators and found in Tea Leaves and Tourniquets a good opportunity to try something new.
When Jaye Callaghan’s dubiously clairvoyant best friend predicts that she’s finding her soul mate soon, Jaye isn’t convinced. But when Jaye meets Charlie Riley, the new town clinic doctor, she starts to believe that Charlie might be the one. Charlie is mysterious, guarded and very sexy. How can Jaye convince Charlie that they are made for each other?
This is an opposites-attract romance with the setting of a small seaside town. The book blurb describes Charlie as an ice-queen but I’m not sure if that’s the right portrayal. She’s reserved and enigmatic and has her reasons for her behaviour which are absolutely justified. Jaye, on the other hand, is more of a sunshine character, the typical girl-next-door who is loved by the whole town. While Charlie is a doctor who believes in science and hard facts, Jaye is artistic, superstitious and believes in destiny. But despite their differences, they manage to find common ground and slowly but surely their mutual attraction starts to build up.
I liked the romantic relationship between the mains, their chemistry is strong and it’s easy to root for them. Beyond that, both of them are at crossroads in their lives, both characters need to discover themselves, grow as people and find out their place in the world. There is a bit of angst surrounding both their journeys but not extremely so. I found that the ubiquitous “black moment” around the 80% mark, was justifiable and organic to the story. The epilogue departs a bit from what’s usually expected in a romance but is still satisfying.
This is the first time I’ve listened to an audiobook narrated by Anna Fox, it seems this is her first wlw book. I liked her performance very much, her voices for the different characters sounded distinct and the acting of emotions was very good. I hope she does more lesfic in the future. 4 stars.
Length: 7 hours, 2 minutes.
