Review: Cup of Joe by Annabeth Albert
SYNOPSIS:
Sometimes an ordinary Joe is all you need…
Newbie barista Levi Miles is having a bad day in the middle of a bad month. He’s trying to figure out post-graduation life, and a recent breakup hasn’t helped. The one bright spot? The charming blue-collar customer with the simple order and reassuring voice.
Electrician Joe Simmons can make anything light up—except his love life. As he gets older, he remains unsure about what he wants from a relationship. But an innocent flirtation with the fresh-faced barista is exactly what his ego needs.
Levi doesn’t need a boyfriend. Or a Daddy. But bantering with Joe feels so good, and when their tentative friendship takes a turn for the sexy, a summer fling seems fun. Exploring long-held desires brings them closer with each steamy night, and the idea of parting gets harder.
But Levi’s only in town temporarily, and the end of summer is approaching. Both are reluctant to disclose their feelings, but pushing past their fears may be the only way to keep this special thing going. Can they order up a happy ending before time runs out?
REVIEW:
I was really looking forward to this book and the start of the Bold Brew series when Annabeth Albert announced it a few months ago. But I have a confession to make, I am surprised I even finished this book. As I closed the last page, and kept reflecting on what went wrong for me, it hit me…I was bored.
My first hint should have been that I kept setting the book down, I’d read a chapter and go do something else, then wash and repeat. There was nothing wrong with Joe or Levi as characters, they just didn’t have anything that pulled me in and kept my attention. They kinda fell flat, they lacked depth and uniqueness, and the pacing of their relationship seemed off.
Levi essentially uproots his life for a man who did him wrong. So he decides to get a job and stay in town. Upon meeting Joe, their first private conversation (outside the coffee house) sets off a whirlwind of ‘play’. The kinks and intimacy felt rushed and forced, and their were never really any deeper conversations between these two till the end of the story and at that point it was too little too late.
The majority of the book I was waiting for the climax of the story, which I had a gut feeling was going to involve Levi’s ex. Bingo, I was right but it all felt so antic-climatic. Like it was just thrown into the story because we needed some drama and then quickly fixed. The whole story was just meh and I haven’t even decided if I will try to read the next book in the series…maybe in a few months.
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