Review: For Once In My Life

For Once In My Life by Cynthia Roberts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For Once In My Life is the third book in the Love Song Standards series, and I can safely say it is my favourite book thus far. With each new book I read, I fall a little deeper in love with the series. From the very start, I knew this was a wonderful idea – songs inspired by classic love songs, it’s such a simple idea and yet I do not know of a series like this out there already on the market – yet I failed to realise how deeply I would fall under the spell.

All of the books are quite quick reads, they are those where once you get started you’re finished much sooner than you’d initially anticipated you would be. For Once In My Life seemed to go by even quicker, forcing me to finish it in a single sitting. Despite the length, the book has everything you need to ensure addiction. It is sweet, is has action, and characters you cannot help but love.

As with the prior books in the series, this is a seemingly simple love story. It isn’t the kind of story where you need to harden your heart to enjoy the romance between the two, you simply need to open the doors to your heart and they will stroll straight in. I’m not saying the story is trouble free, far from it, but it is a much lighter read than the romances I tend to lean towards. I think this is a big reason as to why the series is growing on me so much – it has all the elements of a good romance without forcing me down the dark path I tend to lean towards.

Honestly, this one is without a doubt my favourite. The connection between the two characters was wonderful, and watching them slowly open up kept me gripped. As soon as I saw ‘prima ballerina’ and ‘army’ in the synopsis, I knew I was a goner. Trust me, when I say this does deliver.

The only issue I had with the story was with our male’s speech. Everyone loves a Scottish accent – if I could bottle the voices of the men in my city, I would be rolling in the cash – so I wasn’t at all surprised when we were given a male lead with the beautiful accent. Sadly, when reading it I found myself slipping and thinking it didn’t quite feel right. I get this a lot, and have only ever found a single author (a native Scot, at that) where I felt as though the speech didn’t conform to every Scottish stereotype in existence. I doubt this will have a big impact upon many people, but as someone who listens to the beautiful brogue on a daily basis, I did feel as though it wasn’t quite true to life.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed this one. The books in this series are growing stronger, and I cannot wait to find out what the next one brings.

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