Review: Love and Blueberries by Vivian Lace

Love and Blueberries (The Silverhaven Omegaverse #1)
written by Vivian Lace
narrated by Andria Mae

My Rating: 3 stars

Genre: Omegaverse
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f

Blurb:
A cozy Omegaverse romance full of breathless tension, quiet devotion, and found family comfort.

Emily Hart is on the run—from a life chosen for her, from the Alpha who thought she belonged to him, from the weight of expectations she never asked for. What she needs is somewhere to hide. What she finds is something she never dared hope for: safety.

Tucked away in a small town where blueberry fields meet wild forests, Emily finds herself at a quiet farmhouse inn—and face to face with Matthew Granger. A broad-shouldered, soft-spoken Alpha who doesn’t demand, doesn’t push, and never once tries to stake a claim. His gentle presence is nothing like the Alphas she’s been taught to fear.

As the farm pulls her into its slow, grounding rhythm, Emily starts to breathe again—for the first time in years. Baking, planting, nesting—finding friends who understand what it means to carry fear inside your bones. And always, always Matthew: steady, respectful, touch-starved and patient in a way that leaves her breathless.

There’s no forced bond. No looming heat to make her pick.

Only the choice to fall—for him, for safety, for respect.

My Review

I received a free copy from Tantor Audio and voluntarily reviewed it.

Love and Blueberries caught my eye as I wanted to try and read more omegaverse books this year and try some books beyond the one author whose books I like in this genre. I also was looking for more sweet and steamy books and this book sounded like the right fit for that mood as well. Sadly this book didn’t quite work for me, but there were parts like the cozy vibes and the healing journey that I did really like.

Love and Blueberries confused me a bit at first. I was expecting a sweet and steamy read, but this book was almost over the top sweet. There was no hint of steam and I realized this was just going to be a sweet book and I adjusted my expectations accordingly. The strange part is that toward the end of the book is actually gets very steamy suddenly, which felt a but off to me. It was all over the top sweetness with no heat and almost felt like the author was trying to write a different type of omegaverse without the heat, which is fine, and then at the end it felt like she changed her mind and added in all the heat there. It was just odd. I would’ve liked more mentions or hints of steam early on so it didn’t feel like it came out of nowhere.

My biggest struggle with this book was probably the writing style and the lack of depth almost everywhere. The writing style and the cadence of the text just started getting on my nerves eventually. There is a certain sentence structure that is so overused, the “not this, just that” type sentence is in this book so often I started getting annoyed at a certain point when it kept popping up. I guess this is the author’s writing style but it didn’t work for me. There is also so much text focussing on how this place is not a bad place like where she came from, this place is different. And the love interest Matthew isn’t like other alphas, he’s not pressuring, he’s just steady and there. It was just a bit much. After the start I got the point and the constant repeating of it, just felt like too much. Like I got the point after the first few times it was mentioned and the constant comparing to what he wasn’t just felt off.

Then there was the fact the world and characters just don’t come fully alive. It’s like even the basic details are missing so it makes it hard to get a feel for the town and world. I am still not sure in what type of world or age this book is set. There are no mentions of phones, but the rest seems modern enough, but there aren’t enough details to know for sure. Then there are things like the inn, but I felt like I never really got a feel this was actually an inn and not just a farm. And I still have no clue what the inn looks like, how big it is or how much land they have or even who Sarah is. And the whole book is like that. There are characters who are only mentioned by their role like the neighbors waved at them, I didn’t even knew they had neighbors or who they are at that point. It just made it hard for the book or world to come alive. I felt like I never fully got a grasp on anything or have enough details.

And besides that there are just storylines or plot points that don’t really get explored. And parts with so few details that it just gets confusing at times. One example is the plot line of Emily’s family and the alpha she was promised to that she runs away from. It takes ages to get a few details about what happens and even then it’s piecing things together from small mentions. This is a big plot point, but then the way it gets resolved almost seems to easy and I was just waiting for more to come of it after the letters, but there never was. And with the way it was set up, it just felt off.

I also didn’t really feel the romance. Matthew is almost too perfect, he just feels unreal. He’s just perfect for Emily, always is exactly what she needs. It just felt too much in the realm of wish fulfillment or fantasy instead of him being a real person. They also hardly talk, it’s all about the vibes and how Matthew acts and how is he is not like other alphas and gives her space, but is steady and always there. And then the steamy scenes also just felt a bit off with him always in control always putting her pleasure first. He just did not feel real to me. I just wanted to get to know more about him and who he is and see the two of them connect by talking things through and figuring things out. It was just a bit too easy and perfect now.

One thing I did really like about this book is the cozy vibes. This really is a very sweet and cozy omegaverse book and I thought those vibes were spot on. I also loved the scent descriptions, it was one of the things that was super vivid when it came to descriptions and I really liked how much the scents are mentioned and how this is obviously a big part of how Emily experiences the world. I also liked Emily’s healing journey. I felt like the descriptions were well done of how she’s starts out scared and then slowly finds her place home and makes the loft her own space. And how chooses an alpha she wants and makes this her home and deliberate leaves the past behind. I also really liked seeing her find her own pack and friends who are there for her.

The narrator was a new to me one and was pleasant enough to listen to. I thought her calm steady voice fit the book, although I did speed it up to 1.1 speed at times as it could be a bit slow and I hardly ever speed up audiobooks.

To summarize: This is a very sweet and cozy omegaverse book with a bunch of steam packed toward the end. I liked the cozy vibes and Emily’s healing journey. The descriptions of Emily finding a place to belong and the way she slowly finds her home were well done. I also liked the way the author describes all the scents. Sadly a lot of the rest of the book didn’t quite work for me. The writing style had weird repetitive type sentences that focussed on how something or someone wasn’t like this, just that. And it just felt very overdone and annoying. There also was so much focus on how Matthew wasn’t like other alphas and he was a bit too perfect for Emily, exactly what she needed always without them actually talking. I did not feel the romance because of that. The steamy scenes at the end feel jarring, come out of nowhere and took me by surprise after the over the top sweetness of the rest of the book. I also struggled getting a feel for the place and world as there are so few details and it was hard to get a sense of when and where it takes place or what things look like. The narrator had a calm and steady vibe that fit the book, although I did speed it up to 1.1 speed at times as it was a bit too slow.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.