April Canty

Apparently a sad backstory excuses crappy attitude

Revisado: 01-07-18

Grace was actually a somewhat decent heroine, which is not easily found in Romance books. That being said, I hated her at the end. Her insistent "Where's Sam? I can't leave Sam, he's hurting I need him, I can't live without him" thought at the end of the book were rather annoying, unnecessary, and they just made her look weak. Sam, on the other hand, is rather pathetic as a character. I don't understand how his backstory was reason enough for him to decide that people weren't even worth knowing or getting close to. I also don't understand how he's so cocky. He's supposed to be a character that knows what it's like to have nothing, to be lacking in some way, and yet he's arrogant and a jackass to those that aren't doing as well as him.

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Apparently Instant Love Fixes All?

Revisado: 01-07-18

Well, this one is just a complete mess. The first bit of this book is actually rather good. But then, bam, instant love, resulting in instant regret that I chose to read this book.

My biggest problems with this book:
-The use of the word "fucking". Not a bad word to use, and I definitely don't have any problem with swearing in general. But there are more curse words in the world than just "fuck". I felt like generally every other sentence used this word. And heaven forbid you get a single bit of dialogue that didn't use this word.
-Instant love. Not even lying, Abby and Jake fall "in love" within less than 3 days.
-Abby, with her awful childhood, somehow becomes "healed" by Jake within the span of a few days. She has an aversion to people touching her, but within a day or two, she's kissing and hugging Jake as though she never had any problems.
-For a guy that kills people for a living, he isn't very good at hiding that fact. Abby found out about it at an alarming rate.
-Jake is a jackass. He claims to love Abby, but can't be bothered to trust her. One bout of jealousy is really all it took for him to just disappear.
-The "perfect" ending. Everything works out in the end, they all love each other, everyone is great. Ugh.

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Good start, the rest is awful.

Revisado: 01-04-18

Cake could have easily been a very enjoyable Romance novel, but it was brought down mostly because of the characters. My biggest issue was Casey. One of the things that Jake likes most about her is that she doesn't treat him like other women. But, she really is just like all of those other women. Sure, she stands out by not throwing herself at him at first, but she readily gives up things in her life for him. Things like quitting her job to stay with him on his tour, transferring schools just to be closer to him, accepting money from him to pay for everything. She changes herself to ultimately be the type of woman he didn't like, though apparently neither Casey or Jake have any sense to realize this. Even Jake changes his character for her by doing things like using his fame to get her special treatment, even though he's stated in the book that he doesn't enjoy using his fame.

Honestly, the only decent part of this book was maybe the first few chapters before Jake and Casey really get together.

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Rushed, Generic, and Immature

Revisado: 01-04-18

The romance in this book is so incredibly rushed. To add to that, the plot is generic, the characters are annoying, and the writing is immature. This entire book is just a typical Romance cliche: girl pisses guy off, guy finds himself attracted to her because he's never been defied before, then they somehow fall in love despite the fact that they're both so incredibly mentally stunted that they don't realize love and lust are not the same thing.

And, just because it bothers me so much, who in this damn world would act like Soraya? Sure, she grabbed a lost phone with the intention of returning it, but only after she snooped through just about every picture she could and went through everything else as well. And then she has the gall to be upset when Graham doesn't want to see her in person to return the phone? I don't understand anything in this book.

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Feels like Fanfiction

Revisado: 01-03-18

There are a few things that I really enjoyed about this book:
-It's light-hearted and humorous.
-Lydia isn't portrayed as the timid woman a lot Romance books like to have
-Vaughan isn't a complete jerk like many of his Romance novel conterparts.

Despite the things I did like, this book would have likely fallen into my DNF list if it wasn't for the humor. My problems mostly lies in that it feels like the humor is used to cover up a mediocre plot, mediocre characters, and mediocre writing. Lydia and Vaughan don't make much sense: Lydia practically forgets she got cheated on within a day, Vaughan is saintly with how he takes her in, and neither of them seem to really actually give a shit about their lives. They're both immature characters that I would expect to find in a High School romance.

One thing that was endlessly annoying was Lydia's mental ramblings. They're funny at times, but dear god she talks and talks and talks in her head. It's especially off-putting during sex scenes. Kind of hard to be hot when your main character's mental dirty talk is incredibly childish.

The ending is also extremely half-assed. It felt like the author got to the end, forgot what the plot was, just threw in a little bit of drama with a dumb make-up and then called it a day. It's very fanfiction-esque.

Some quotes that I feel speak for themselves:
"Do you believe in crazy at first sight?"

"Every muscle down there contracted in glee."

"I rolled my eyes back, moaning at my own drama-itis."

"He's so pretty." (said about 1000 times in various ways throughout the book)

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Weak characters and weak plot

Revisado: 01-03-18

Ash and Willow are amongst the worst Romance couples. They're not good together and they're honestly pretty sad characters by themselves. Ash is arrogant - to the point where it's overdone and unnecessary. Willow is supposed to be seen as quiet, but strong. She certainly has the quiet part down, but I didn't see a single moment where she could have been considered strong, either mentally or physically. She's a weak-willed person. She fails to keep to her own standards and morals. She's only really 'unique' because she doesn't throw herself at Ash like other women, which if you compare her to Romance heroines in general, she's not unique in this aspect. Additionally, the backstory that links Ash and Willow together is so horribly done. It felt like a cop-out of a backstory. It made no sense and just made it even more confusing that somehow Willow still gets together with Ash in the end.

It also doesn't help that the writing of this book was very strange. There's an overuse of short sentences and both Ash and Willow talk the same way.

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Narrator sounds like a robot

Revisado: 10-30-17

I did not finish this book, I only managed to get to Chapter 6. I likely would have gotten farther if hadn’t been listening to the audiobook, but I don’t think my opinion of it would have changed much. I would definitely recommend that people not listen to the audiobook, I honestly found it very disorienting. The narrator would pause too long at places and long sentences would become very short and confusing. The narrator also sounds very lifeless, even robotic. I also feel like there were audio issues, I often heard bits of static and the editing of the audio isn't that good. It's obvious when audio got cut and stitched together.

Onto the book itself, I only got as far as Cara signing up to be a mail order bride and getting proposed to. I really have a hard time relating to Cara’s situation or just the way she’s approaching her life. I understand wanting a husband and kids, but the idea of going on a website and essentially finding a person to marry right away is strange. Cara's friend describes the marriage match-making website as “[A website] for men and women who don’t like waiting around for what they want”, which I think would be great if everyone in the world was honest, but anyone can lie on a profile. There are many people that act differently online than they do in person. And while I understand that they idea is that the two people meet in real life and go from there, it doesn’t sound like the “700 matches” that the site boasts took long to really decide if they truly like each other. If you think creating a profile, answering a few questions, and meeting briefly in person is enough to decide if someone is worth marrying, then that’s terrifying. It also doesn't make sense to me when you have a person that wants a loving husband and kids but doesn't want to put in the effort of taking the time to find the right person. A relationship is not built in a day. Very few people can actually get away with meeting someone, hitting it off instantly, and then getting married very quickly. Definitely not saying it's not possible, but this book makes it feel like it happens often enough to be a trend, at least in the book's universe. And I'm sure plenty of people will say "it's fiction, you're not meant to take it seriously", but there's nothing hot or sexy about un-realistic expectations about relationships.

Cara herself is just confusing. She’s insecure one moment, but then suddenly not the next. She talks about how she hates the small, star-shaped birthmark on her forehead and how she wished she could have surgery to get it removed, admits that other people (like those with face disfigurements) have it worse, but then continues to complain about it?

I can't say much about Holt since I didn't even get to the part where Cara and Holt meet, but it truly does annoy me that Cara's decision to accept Holt's proposal is pretty much entirely based on 1 compliment from him and from his picture. Yet again, you can't really tell what people are like just based on profiles and pictures. Cara's friend says "[Holt's] got honest, warm-hearted eyes. I can see this clearly in his pics."

Oh please, seriously?

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A dull and boring take on a good idea

Revisado: 10-18-17

The overall premise of this book, dialing someone while under the influence and then proceeding to blabber out a whole bunch of stuff that you normally wouldn’t say otherwise, is one that is very real. However, I would say that’s the only source of realness (reality?) in this book. While I understand this book is fiction, it is fiction that is set in the modern world. There are no elements of fantasy or sci-fi. As such, there should at least be a semblance of real world dynamics. There’s an awkwardness in how the author writes about certain situations and there seems to be a general lack of understanding of people and how things work. The characters themselves are predicatable and dull and don't do much to add onto the overall feel of the book.

On the topic of Rana:
Rana is meant to be a rather broken, or damaged, person due to her past. She lacks trust in others, feels she can do everything herself, and has self-esteem issues. That being said, her character is confusing. She refuses to take a casual selfie of herself, but allows jealously to fuel her actions so much that she takes a risqué photo to send to Landon while he’s on a date. She’s jealous of Landon going on a date early on in the book even though neither one of them has taken the step to even bring up the possibility of being in a relationship with each other. Rana also has a lack of sympathy for Landon. She has made mistakes in her own past, but judges his mistakes readily and easily. Even though she gets over it, she acts as though his mistakes are significantly greater than hers. Additionally, she goes through the stereotypical thought process every woman in romance books seems to go through: she can’t possibly be without Landon. She needs him to breathe and to live. And, something that bothers me to no end: Rana, despite being hurt by people in the past, has no sense of self-preservation. She lives with a man that she feels might try to kill her. When the guy leaves and takes a whole bunch of her clothes with him, she doesn’t do anything about, saying she doesn’t “want to cause trouble”. Even when she finds out that he had left a camera in her room and had recorded her, she doesn’t want to do anything about it and treats it as though it’s no big deal.

On the topic of Landon:
Landon himself often comes off as sweet and caring originally. However, just like with Rana, there’s contradiction in his character.There are things he says and things he does that come off as creepy or even controlling. When Rana and Landon first start talking and they both confess that they both have a bit of an awful past, Landon tells her to take her time and that he wants her to be comfortable with him. But, that all starts to change when she sends him the “sexy” selfie and she’s reluctant to go much farther and doesn’t want to leave her comfort zone. He tells her, “Either you let me see you, let me be with you, or I’m going to have to take this sexual energy out on someone else. Is that what you want?” There is nothing sexy about essentially threatening a woman who really likes you to go farther with you even though you know she's not comfortable.

To give an example of when this book falls away from reality:
Landon, as one would expect, asks Rana how she got his number. After all, it’s been 13 years since they last spoke. Rana found Landon’s number by googling his name. She tells him, "You must be the only Landon Roderick in the U.S.” For one thing, I can honestly tell you that I googled his name and found many Landon Roderick’s in the U.S. For another, personal phone numbers are not that easily found on the internet, especially when said person does not have a social media account, which is something that the two talk about later on in the book. You are more likely to find parts of someone’s phone number in the WhitePages, but you typically have to pay for a service to get the full thing. It would have been more feasible for Rana to have found some sort of work phone number since Landon owns a food truck, meaning that he has to have some form of communication available as a business owner. I know that this seems to be something silly to nit-pick on, but this is just 1 example. There are many more.

On the topic of the sex:
Honestly, it’s disappointing. It’s fast, often because of lack of detail, and just typical. There’s nothing really “hot” and nothing that really jumps out as different. There is, of course, the common situation of the girl not having had sex in years, but the man still acts as though she must have had sex the night before with how quickly he starts the action. And, like with Rana and Landon, there's a lot of strange contradiction when it comes to the sex as well. Rana’s been hurt before, but somehow she seems fine with being told by Landon, “If you aren’t already on the pill, you need to get on it." While I’m sure some people see this as sexy, there’s a lack of consideration for what Rana wants and it’s honestly a generally creepy statement. There's also a lack of understanding of how sex works in general, as seen with one of the last sex scenes described, but I won't get into that.

While I gave this book a very low rating, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have any good qualities. There were times were there was a genuine feel of romance, such as when Landon sets up a virtual date. Unfortunately, the 2D feel of the characters and the overall awkwardness of the book makes it one that I would not recommend. Andi Arndt's narration was really the only thing I'd recommend.

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