Aiming for Love started out with a lot of promise. The premise of three sisters, raised isolated from the world, suddenly having their world invaded with the arrival of a ranching family fleeing from danger immediately drew me in. Honestly, romance, family bonds, and idyllic winter settings sound like the perfect holiday read.
To be fair, Connealy does a wonderful job painting imagery of winter forests and untouched frontiers of Colorado and there are definitely plot threads that bear the potential for further, stronger unfolding in later entries to the Brides of Hope Mountain series.
That said, I struggled to engage with this novel on a few fronts. The characters felt more one-note than I'm used to from Connealy. Ursula's fear and paranoia, Jo's curiosity, and Ilsa's healing dominated their characters. I also struggled with their family conflict as I hadn't reached enough of a connection with the sisters as a family unit to engage with that threat.
Additionally, the pacing and flow also felt more stilted and awkward than what I'm used to from Connealy. At first, I wondered if that was to help separate the sisters narrative in light of their isolation but even major story elements like the romance, the illness, and the conflict between Ursula and Jo felt off somehow in their pacing.
Having read Connealy in the past this book felt odd, fingers crossed this was a new series working to find its feet and book 2 will see this series hit its stride.
3 out of 5 stars
"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc."
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