Karen Does Sharon Cullars...

So I recently read Again, by Sharon Cullars. Here’s the blurb:

Tyne Jensen has been as unlucky in love, as she's been in her career as a journalist. That is until she meets David Carvelli at her sister’s wedding.


The two are inexplicably drawn to each other, and although David is willing to pursue their mutual attraction, Tyne has decided that she just can’t be arsed, although it’s been a while since she got laid.


Another reason why Tyne doesn’t want to get involved with David is because he gives her the heeby geebies he seems familiar to her, even though she knows that they haven’t met before.


David on the other hand is all too willing to get between her legs because she’s hot, and she reminds him of the woman who he’s been having wet dreams about lately.


As David and Tyne navigate their way into bed accepting their mutual attraction, they are unaware that their relationship is one that has somehow managed to transcend time, and that they share a history, that spans over two centuries.


Will they be able to rewrite history and live happily ever after in the here and now, or will ghosts of years gone by destroy any chance they have of being happy together…?

My Verdict

I liked this story. I really did. However, it wasn’t perfect, but before I go on about the things that made me want to growl like a lion on steroids, I’ll tell you what I did like about it.

I thought Cullars had a good voice, she was easy to read, and the book was compelling enough to keep me amused during the horrendous landing that me and The Tall Guy experienced on our way back from Dusseldorf. (I’m still convinced that the pilot on that flight was on some sort of a training scheme).

I liked the heroine because she didn’t piss me off. I liked the hero, because he didn’t piss me off. You may think that this is an odd thing to point out, but trust me, I’ve read some right duds lately, but thankfully, this wasn’t one of the legions of shitty books that have come my way in the past few weeks.

Although Tyne was having a hard time at work, and things hadn’t gone quite as she had planned, she didn’t sit around bitching and moaning like a crack addict going cold turkey. She was a woman in control, and that’s how I like my heroines. There aren’t many authors(IMO) who can pull off strong heroines, that don’t end up pissing me off, for one reason or another. Cullars managed to do this rather nicely.

David, the hero, was very appealing, even though he had some issues. It was easy to warm to him, because I’m a romance reader who prefers the hero to be more gaga over the heroine, than the other way round.

There was a point in the story where David did start to get a leetle annoying, but I got over that, quick sharp.

Now, let’s talk about what I didn’t like about the story.

There were just too much jumping about between the different times, and the constant head hopping between the different characters did my head in . At one point, I’d read a full page before I realised that David was no longer David Carvelli in modern day Chicago, rather he was Joseph whatshisface from the year 1879. This happened more than once, and it frustrated the tits off me.

Again was unpredictable in parts, mostly due to the fact that at one point, you couldn’t work out how Cullars was going to give Tyne and David a happy ending. She gave them a HEA, but to be honest, it wasn’t as satisfactory as it could have been , considering everything that had gone on.

Something else that I didn’t particularly appreciate about the story, was the sub-plot involving David’s mother’s ESP abilities. Totally unnecessary, and just took up precious pages that could have been dedicated to David and Tyne’s evolving relationship.

Again was a beautiful story, and although it wasn’t totally flawless, I do think that a lot of readers would be able to look beyond the not-so-good things, and still manage to enjoy, what definitely was a better than average story.