Tracy’s review of Waiting for Ethan by Diane Barnes

When Gina Rossi was in junior high, her best friend’s psychic grandmother got everything right—from predicting that Gina would break her arm and travel to Italy, all the way to leading police to a missing neighborhood child. The one time Gina didn’t listen to her, she almost got herself killed. So when she says that Gina will marry a man named Ethan—but she will have to wait for him—Gina believes her, and waits…

Now thirty-six, Gina’s Mr. Right is nowhere in sight—until the day she’s stranded in a snowstorm, and rescued by the last type of Ethan she expected. It’s very romantic, yet surprisingly not. This Ethan is sexy, and clearly her hero. Still, instead of her “Aha” moment, Gina’s confused. And when Ethan is happy to discover she’s single, does Gina dare tell him, It’s because I’ve been waiting for you? But the bigger question is, does she dare question destiny—by taking it into her own hands? And is she brave enough to handle what happens once it’s time to stop waiting—and start living?

When Gina was a kid she was best friends with Neesha who lived across the street from her. Neesha’s grandmother, who they called Ajee, claimed to be a psychic and constantly made predictions. Most all of them came true so when Ajee told Gina when she was 14 years old that she would meet and marry a man named Ethan she took that info to heart.

Gina is now 36 years old and still single. She’s dated over the years but she’s still waiting for that man named Ethan that Ajee predicted she’d marry. During a snow storm she gets stuck and is saved by a good Samaritan. She lets him help and even though she thinks his name is Gregory (it was written on his tool box in his car) she agrees to go out with him. When she finds out that Gregory is his last name and that his first name is Ethan she can’t believe it! This is it! This is the guy she’s been waiting for! But Ethan isn’t all she thought he’d be.

She finds out that he’s still married but recently separated. She keeps telling herself that she shouldn’t date him – and her friend and coworker Luci says that too – but its Ethan, how could she not? Ethan seems to be still hung up on his wife, Leah, and they have a contentious relationship but what he’s telling Gina and how he acts are two different things. As time goes on Gina is less enamored with Ethan, except in the bedroom, but she’s determined to stick it out because of Ajee’s prediction. Her life moves on and she actually finds she has a crush on a guy at work, Cooper, and he obviously likes her but she’s not sure she wants to do anything about it because of Ethan, or does she?

Waiting for Ethan is the debut book for author Diane Barnes. I liked the book but I did have a couple of issue with it.

First off I’ll start with what I liked which were the characters. I really liked Gina even though she was horribly confused about her future. I would have hated to have been told my future and then lived by it. As much as I hated that Gina was kind of stagnant in life because of Ajee’s prediction I could see how it would happen. I felt for her because I think so much had passed her by in life because of that day when she was 14 years old. I really liked Gina’s friend Luci as well and loved her forthrightness and I also liked Cooper’s character even though we didn’t get to see too much of whom exactly he was. The story made me laugh out loud several times and that was a plus for the book as well.

My issues with the book were with the writing. While I liked it to a point I thought that it was a bit unemotional. Even when Gina was all in with Ethan I didn’t feel it from her. I knew her thoughts but I just wasn’t feeling the emotion. When she was frustrated with him I knew that it was happening but didn’t feel that frustration too much myself and personally I want to kind of feel what my characters are feeling.

My other issue was with the end of the book. I can’t tell you what happens as that would ruin it all but once Gina made her decision about her future it moved really fast. There was no development to get us to that point in the relationship, it just was and everyone was good with that. I needed the author to expound on that part of the story and it just didn’t happen. While I was happy for everyone involved I just needed more as that part of Gina’s and the other guy’s relationship hadn’t been developed yet it was supposed to be a lifelong HEA. IDK, I guess I just wasn’t satisfied with that part of it all.

So overall a good story and one I enjoyed reading even with the issues I had with it.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

This title is available from Lyrical Press. You can buy it here or here in e-book format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.