Review: Cute, somewhat predictable
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 16, 2014
Jules Lovestoread's review at Mrs Condit & Friends review blog:  What There Is starts out with ex-baseball player, Justin answering an ad for a roommate, and meeting the very sweet, but very shy and nerdy, Mark. Obviously Justin gets the room, and the wheels are set in motion for this cute, if somewhat predictable, story.There was much here that worked: I liked the characters themselves; I enjoyed the unique twist of the cooking class aspect; some of the scenes and passages felt really full, and fleshed out; and, there were some very witty, fun bits – in particular a certain ‘porn’ conversation between Justin, and a friend from cooking class, Penny, which full on had me laughing-out-loud.However, then there were things that didn’t work for me: While the characters were good, Justin’s backstory was much richer and fuller than Mark’s; the plotline of ‘helping Mark find a guy’ felt sort of forced and unnecessary – I think that the jealousy could have been brought into play in a more organic fashion; and, the writing seemed inconsistent overall. As I said, there were some scenes where the author nailed it, but then others that were fairly dull and monotone.I liked this story. Don’t get me wrong. But, it definitely didn’t rock my world or anything. I am even a sucker for geek stories; AND, for friends-turned-more stories. Unfortunately, this one was just a bit lackluster, and not as rock solid as I feel it could have been.That being said, I have heard many, many good things about Kate McMurray’s work, and will absolutely be checking out more of her stuff!