Review: More interesting characters from Barbara Elsborg
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 20, 2014
I'm so torn on this one!! It was good and unexpected. I like to find books on my Kindle where I don't quite remember the blurb, lol. Then it's a total surprise! I started to remember the blurb in the middle of this one, but wasn't sure which way it was going to go. It was surprising, angsty, heart-breaking, witty, cute, and ultimately satisfying.My heart broke for all three characters at different times in the story. Mostly for Addie, who feels like she's unlovable. She's a virgin, never been on a date, kissed once by a drunk Australian who then puked. Not a great track record with men. Her mom is just horrible to her. We find out why, but even that was so heartbreaking. While I have a sliver of understanding about that, for the most part, I think it's horrible. Oh, it just broke my heart. That she felt like she needed to "invent" a boyfriend to get her mom off her back was sad in itself.And so she finds Will to pretend to be her made-up boyfriend. Will is excited she chose him over his brother, who is a man slut and normally the object of women's attention. Will doesn't know, at first, that she chose him because he had dark hair while his brother, Ed, had light hair, so he matched the description Addie had made up. But there's a definite spark between them, even though Addie is the clumsiest heroine I've ever read, lol. She's also so in control and witty when she's not nervous. So he spends the night with her (platonic), kisses her (to make it look legit for Addie's brother, though it feels like it's so much more significant), plays with her nipple briefly which causes her to orgasm (because she's just that responsive), then leaves when she hightails it back to her room in mortification about said orgasm.And then the next workday, it turns out he's with the company that bought the place where she works part-time. More mortification. More nervousness and extreme clumsiness. And Will doesn't know how to deal with it, so he's really mean to her. And then he apologizes, they go to his house, she loses her virginity (without telling him she was a virgin), and his ex-wife shows up trying to reconcile. Whom Addie knew nothing about. And she feels tossed aside. Rinse, lather, repeat a few times. Will was so torn. He's the responsible one. And he's torn between what he wants to do and what he feels like is the "right thing". His ex-wife does NOT help things, but she was there to get Will back. And Addie didn't fit into her plans at all.Every time Will lets Addie down, Ed is there to sort of pick up the pieces. And somewhere along the way, he realizes he really wants her. But she's Will's. Right? And he's the man slut. Right? Except Addie makes him feel things he hasn't felt in a really long time. So he's conflicted between what he wants to do and what he feels like is the "right thing". He does enough good things for Addie to start questioning her feelings toward Ed.Ultimately, it becomes something akin to the story of Solomon wanting to split the baby in half.Like I said, I'm torn. I'm sad for the one she didn't end up with, but it made sense. And I was happy for the one she did end up with. And I was happy with how Addie finally realized that she was lovable and she stuck up for herself when Vee's lies threatened to ruin her. She'd never get love from her mom and never had it from her dad, but she'd found it with someone who loved her very much.