Review: A good try, but it didn't "hit" with me.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 03 22, 2014
I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.Okay. The author provided me a copy of this book to review. I am no longer book blogging, but true to my word, I'm posting this review! Now, on to the review!CharactersMain Girl Character (whose name I can't even remember). She's an upper thirties girl with low self-esteem, fast changing emotions and no experience with men. She's the girl that's beautiful...but doesn't know it. Is is alluring, but thinks she's awkward. Think Bella Swan. I do feel the author did a good job putting across who she is as a person...in the beginning, but as the book unraveled I found myself wondering who this person was. If this is the woman that was career driven, no-nonsense then why would she let some pompous rich guy boss her around?! It just seemed out of character! Not to mention she was soooooo clueless it was infuriating! I'm serious, she literally has no sense of self-love or self-awareness. To avoid spoiling the book I'll leave it at that.Dante. In the beginning I felt he would be the swoon-worthy love interest that sweeps the girl off her feet. In this book he's a controlling, arrogant and mean man who sees the main character as a distraction, an amusement. I get that he's rich and he's supposed to be used to getting what he wants, but shouldn't the love interest have redeeming qualities? Dante sooooo does not have any. He grabs the main character, orders her around like a servant and demands her sole attention. All of this while dangling his "leverage" over her head to keep her in line. I'm sorry, but isn't this an abusive relationship?The paper cut out *whoops* I mean other characters in the book. So...the main character has a best friend that she just forgets about after going to France? No more phone calls, late night chats or texts? Hmm...okay. Not to mention the girl in the group that she gave her room to. She doesn't talk to her that much any more after the beginning of the book. So....what happened there? And Kyle? Sigh. He's so cardboard cut out it's unbelievable.PlotThe plot is obvious in that the book's working towards the finale of the main character and Dante being together. The book is well paced, without out too much lag, but it all ends there. The story does not have enough substance to make the reader want to know what's going on. This book's content has been covered NUMEROUS times.SettingThe setting of the book is very nice. I get the feeling the author isn't American, because she has a very keen eye on things that Americans most likely wouldn't know (when it comes to France, that is). The descriptions are nice, as well as the ambiance of the book. This alone was not enough to save it, though.PacingThe book is paced very well. There's no way around that, the author did a good job with this part, but it did not save this book for me!WritingThis is the part where a lot of Indie writers get dinged (with me at least). There are ENTIRE paragraphs and pages that are either: 1) not edited, 2) repeated, but in a different way and 3) have words missing. This was completely infuriating because I'd hit my stride with this book, and then I'd have to re-read certain lines over and over again just to figure out what's going on. This book could have benefited greatly from some more editing (meaning micro, marco and developmental).OverallThis book has a good enough story that would've gotten 3 stars, but the editing was so bad that I just couldn't do it. The pacing and plot are good enough, but the characters are weak. I really feel this was a good enough try by the author, but it just did not sit well with me.Recommendation?This is a hard one. I don't hate it, but I don't like it. If the author were to go through another round with an editor, add depth to her characters I would recommend. As is? I do not recommend.