There is a LOT of drama in this book... After a huge misunderstanding and a bigger amount of ego, Zamora and Marcus break up. 10 years later they run into each other again, and we're taken on a roller coaster ride while they work out what went wrong, and what they really want now. And then add in a bit of a con, and you've got quite an intense ride.

The narrators did a good job of bringing Zamora and Marcus to life. I wasn't sure why a third narrator was needed for Elliana.

The story didn't have the greatest flow, and I didn't understand why the characters did what they did a lot of the time.

Still, not a waste of time, and it could be enjoyable for some.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and Recorded Books and am voluntarily leaving a review.

This needed trigger warnings of infertility I couldn’t finish it after 75% the first few chapters I was crying so hard!

I DNF'd this book at 9%.

Honestly it was a struggle to make it even this far. From the prologue, I knew that I wasn't going to like this book. I wanted to like it so badly but it was so disjointed and chaotic. It felt like the book had no structure and the pacing was bizzare. We listen to this long prologue about how the mc wants to go to culinary school and she decides to sign up for a 13 month program in another state without consulting her partner. He is rightfully upset.

The two are clearly unable to communicate and should not be together but imagine my surprise when the male narrator comes in and it's his POV! This, to me, indicates that they are endgame in this story and I knew there was no way I could root for them to be together after that terrible start.

To make things even more chaotic, we jump ahead in time and she's MARRIED to another man and his pregnant mistress shows up at her door. I felt like I was getting whiplash with the story. Where was the setup? Where was act 1, the catalyst, anything? There was no semblance of story structure here and it felt like a first draft.

Wasn’t my cup of tea. Couldn’t connect to the characters at all. Some sections just seemed to come out of nowhere and others barely mentioned

I will not be able to review this book, as I DNF.

Usually I will give a book longer to catch me, but this one actively turned me off. It was a rough start with the prologue, knowing this guy is the eventual love interest. Of course people grow and change, but both characters were so flawed in that little snapshot that it made me simply not want to continue, her keeping something so huge from this great love of her life and him not showing any semblance of support to her life dream. Then, in chapter one she's married to a guy who impregnated another woman...in my opinion it was too much drama to introduce so early before we care about the character at all.

It just wasn't for me, and I will not be leaving a review on my blog or any other sites.
Thank you for the opportunity. Wish you the best of luck.

Really enjoyed this story. The narrators didn’t 100% do it for me but was able to get past that. Will definitely check out other books from this author.

Twas an alright read, it was very the right moment right time. The husband cheating and knocking someone else up then the child ending up not being his and then Zamora also finding out he got her pregnant after they ended things. To running back into Marcus whos engaged to someone else to her having a miscarriage and THEN Marcus fiance's finding out shes pregnant but it not being Marcus . SO many holy fuck moments.

This wasn't for me at all, it tried to do too much and it also felt like both main leads were not just flawed but not always kind

Love Delayed by Anna Black is an engaging romance that has its highs and lows. The story explores themes of love, timing, and second chances, with a premise that draws readers in. The characters, particularly the leads, are relatable, and their emotional struggles feel genuine. While the writing style is engaging, there are moments where the story could have benefited from deeper character development and more tension to keep the momentum going. Overall, it’s a sweet read for fans of romance, but it lacks that extra spark to elevate it to something truly unforgettable.

Anna Black's Love Delayed presents a compelling premise—a second-chance romance between former college sweethearts reuniting after a decade. The concept holds great promise, especially for fans of heartfelt reconnections and stories that explore the enduring pull of first loves.

Strengths:
The narration of the female protagonist, Zamora Hill, was a highlight. Her voice brought a sense of authenticity to her character and made her journey relatable. The underlying plot, which combines themes of love, regret, and loss was enough to keep me curious about how the story would unfold.

Areas for Improvement:
I thought the concept of this novel was really intriguing. However, the execution didn’t quite resonate with me. In my opinion, the flow felt choppy and underdeveloped. I also noticed an overemphasis on mundane details and repetitive verbiage, which distracted me from the central narrative.

Additionally, while the female narration was strong, I found the male protagonist’s narrator less effective which affected the flow of the narration. For narrating a latino character, I felt that his Spanish was lacking. This mismatch made it harder to connect with Marcus’s perspective, which was crucial to the story's emotional balance.

Overall Impression:
Although Love Delayed didn’t fully align with my preferences, I do believe that there is an audience for this novel and who will greatly enjoy it. The plot was intriguing enough for me to want to continue with this audiobook. I appreciate the author's attempt to explore themes of forgiveness and fans of second-chance romance who enjoy 'messy' narratives may find this book worth exploring. For me, however, it was a mixed experience.

Thank you NetGalley and RBmedia for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Perfect for a quiet afternoon or whenever you're in the mood for a nice, feel-good story.
I really loved this story. It was a sweet second-chance romance about two successful people who reconnect after ten years. I love that they realized they still have feelings for each other. It captured the warmth of rediscovering love after a long time. The story was light and engaging, with just the right amount of emotion to keep me interested without being too heavy. It was beautiful I’m probably even reread it again the characters and story was lovely.

Thank you to NetGalley, Anna Black and RB Media for an advanced listener copy of Love Delayed. I enjoyed the book, minus a few scenes that were difficult to get through. I believe there should be trigger warnings for certain scenes, particularly regarding toxic relationships, sexual assault, and miscarriage.

The book was narrated by Tamika Katon-Donegal, AhDream Smith, Freedom. At times the reading seemed a bit choppy, but otherwise I enjoyed the narration.

publication Date- November 26, 2024
#LoveDelayed #NetGalley

Overall 3.5
Spice: Off page

You read the book from both viewpoints of the FMC and MMC and it feels like it's on repeat at times. Once you get past the repeating it was a pretty interesting read with several plot twist you didn't see coming. I was not a fan of the narrator especially when the female tried doing the males voice instead of just having the male do the males voice. The narration made it seem more dramatic than it needed to be and made the duplicate parts really drag out. There is mention of spicy scenes, but you don't read about them on page. It was already dealing with adult topics so the on-page spice would have enhanced the book. Overall, it was a quick listen.

This book was not for me. Not sure if it was the narration or the book itself, but I didn’t like the book.

Love Delayed by Anna Black was an okay romance read for me. It had all the classic romance tropes, which, while enjoyable at times, made the story feel a bit predictable and less authentic.

The storyline follows the familiar setup of "the one who got away" and "the cheating boyfriend," paired with the reappearance of a first love who happens to have a gold-digging girlfriend. While these elements can make for dramatic twists, the execution felt a bit rushed, and I found myself wanting more depth in the characters and their relationships.

That said, there were moments that held my attention, especially the chemistry between the main characters. Fans of straightforward, trope-heavy romances might enjoy this more than I did, but for me, it lacked the emotional depth and originality that make a romance truly memorable.

Thank you Netgalley for opportunity to listen to this book.

🎧Love Delayed-a standalone

✍🏾By-Anna Black-new to me author

📅Publication date- 11/26/24, Read- 12/13/24

🏃🏾‍♀️‍➡️Run Time-7:10

🗣️Narrators-Geneva Mitchell, Eden Lafon, and Freedom voiced the characters with stand outs from Marcus and Eliana. The reading style brought the text to life, and the author and narrator worked together perfectly. The pacing and flow allowed me to get lost in the story. The narrators paused and announced new chapters and there was a table of contents which helped me follow along.

👆🏾POV: multiple, 1st person

Quick Summary-Marcus Coleman and Zamora Hill were college sweethearts, but future dreams separate them. Ten years later, they have a meet cute at the Vegas airport. They haven't forgotten about each other and compare their partners to each other. Zamora is married and Marcus is in a two-year relationship. Is their love enough to choose each other this time around?

🤷🏾‍♀️ What to Expect
⭐ ️AA Interests
⭐️ 2nd chance romance
⭐️ marriage/divorce
⭐️ family drama
⭐️ Contemporary Romance
⭐ Women's Fic
⭐ secret pregnancy

⚠️TW-SA, sex trafficking(mentioned), cheating (on H and h), fertility issues, miscarriage

🤔 My Thoughts: I loved all the drama but be warned there are a lot of triggers. Christianity played a big part in Zamora's life. She prayed to Abba and antagonized her sister Zaria for being a non-believer. Zamora, Marcus, and Eliana (to an extent) had to make choices between career and love. They do get a satisfying HEA and Marcus's mother was the MVP!

Rating: 3/5⭐⭐⭐

Spice level 4/5🔥

🙏🏾Thanks to NetGalley, RB Media, and Anna Black for this ALC✈️! I voluntarily give an honest review, and all opinions expressed are my own.

Found the written okay and the characters were annoying why are they staying in relationships they don’t want to (to be a good person?) that’s not how that works. This felt like drama show they both come off as entitled people who act like they think they’re better than everyone else.
You staying in a toxic relationship and letting yourself be treated like crap doesn’t mean you should feel entitled and expect better in your life. It’s your mistake for making those choices and letting people treat you that way in the first place. You should have more respect for yourself can’t expect things to just happen for you if you’re not happy with your life change it. It felt childish for the guy to expect her to not follow her dreams. They could’ve worked out. I get it for the drama for the plot but still and why doesn’t he see that his fiancé and him are not well matched even if she wasn’t doing what she did to him I still don’t get why he would think it’s a good decision to get married to her with him running his family‘s business he comes off as if he is meant to be intelligent, but he doesn’t act like it in that relationship. I don’t know why we had to make the fiancé Just the bad person so we just hate her cause I’ve just been she was a lovely lady but he just didn’t love her so he broke her off simple as. People are allowed to make their own choices, but I do not understand why she tries to work it out with her husband after what he did that is a dealbreaker for me seems like that was just for the plot for us to not like him and for her to suffer later on With what happens next. Was a cool concept feel like I have read books with similar concepts that have done it much better I would say it was a 2.5 so okay but nothing amazing or original did enjoy the narrators for the audiobook. Keep cover would recommend to Reid but it’s not going to change your life. Will be super memorable if you enjoy this kind of trope I have personally read better ones.

I really struggled with this book.
While I enjoyed the overall story, some of the storylines were unfulfilling.

I appreciated how Z followed her dreams.

Two scenes in this book really lowered my opinion of the overall story. I'm not a fan of descriptive SA scenes with no trigger warnings.

There were times when the mmc was painted in a false-negative light and I don't think the author did enough to contradict that.

The narration was good and added positively to the story.

Book contains
-2nd chance at love
-on page SA
- very good narration

Zamora taking off to pursue her dreams was cool but she didn’t see anything wrong with including Marcus in her plans until the last minute. Marcus laughing her off in the beginning left me feeling some kind of way as well. The timeline threw me off throughout the book. I found it hard to enjoy and connect with characters because of how the time jumps. With all that being said, this second chance romance had the potential to be one of those soul stirring reads that have you rooting for the couple. Although it was not a favorite for me I will still read more from this author.

Oh, I loved this story! It was super cute and a little unbelievable, but I like that sometimes in a corny love story. I did not love the narrators. At times they sounded like they were AI and not human, this threw me off at times. The internal conflict of the MFC was a real one that many women go through and the ending. THE ENDING!!!!!!!

The ending was perfect for me!

Thank you Netgally, RBmedia | Recorded Books, and Anna Black for allowing me to listen to Zamora and Marcus's love story. I am voluntarily leaving this honest review without coercion.