Daybreak (Vino & Veritas #12) ~ Kate Hawthorne

Daybreak by Kate Hawthorne is the 12th book in the Vino and Veritas series that is a spin off to Sarina Bowen’s True North world. I’ve been extremely lucky to obtain a number of ARCs in this series; it’s a fantastic way of ‘trying out’ new authors, and there hasn’t been one I haven’t enjoyed yet.

Kate Hawthorne is a new to me author, and Daybreak was a well written, low angst, age-gap romance. It was good to see some familiar names and faces pop up from previous books, and our two main characters, Jasper and Liam were well developed, and especially in the case of Jasper his mannerisms, attitude and personality were sensitively handled.

I will admit though, I had trouble connecting to both Jasper and Liam. I’m positive this was a case of ‘it’s me, not the book’ but I just couldn’t form that emotional bond with either character that allows you to fall headfirst into the world and the lives of the characters. I can’t pinpoint what was missing for me, they were great characters, likeable and their reaction to situations was realistic. They just didn’t ‘click’ for me.

The story flowed well and the writing style was engaging. There was only one part of the story that didn’t really work for me was the big climax surrounding Liam. Without spoiling anything, there was this scenario that had been built up from the beginning, but when it actually happened it was a bit of a non-event. It was almost like the author had run out of word space (given that the books in this series all run to approximately the same length) and had to tie up loose ends quickly.

That said, the ending was hugely satisfying, and overall, I did enjoy the book, but I probably wouldn’t read it again. Of course, it’s entirely possible that it was just me and if I did read it again I might just enjoy it more.