Review: One of the best friends-to-lovers stories I've read
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 24, 2013
I'm so glad I started THE MAN PLAN on a Friday night, because I couldn't put this book down! I read it in one sitting and I just had to finish it before I closed my reader with a happy sigh and went to bed in the wee hours of the morning.THE MAN PLAN is by turns hilariously funny and filled with heartfelt emotions. I love friends-to-lovers stories, and this is one of the best that I've read.I like Cora's assertiveness in her plan to find The One, because sometimes, you have to help Fate along. I also like her close bond with her father, and I felt that this supported the extreme loneliness she felt at his death and spurred her with her Man Plan, although I did feel at times that her heartbreaking loneliness was a wee bit over the top and a teeny weensy bit unbelievable. Nevertheless, I like a heroine who can laugh at herself, who admitted that her plan was "absurdly crazy".Matt is just unbelievably sexy, and the way he cares for Cora should have clued him in that he isn't like his parents. I like his thoughtfulness, like when he brought Cora to a ball game after hearing her misery (he could hear her crying from his apartment). You can really see that he and Cora are friends from the way they enjoy each other's company and look out for each other, in their banter and easy camaraderie, the rapport that they share. Yet, slowly, you can also see how they naturally gravitate to one another, and the way Matt's feelings grew from friendly to something more was nicely done and realistic.THE MAN PLAN is well-written and the pacing just right. I enjoyed it a lot, especially with such engaging characters who burrow their way into my heart. Elise Ackers created this lovely tension between her protagonists and I have to commend her on being able to maintain it throughout the book. Of course we know Matt and Cora would end up together, but this tension between them, the question of how their romance would play out kept me on the edge of my seat, prompting me to turn the pages as fast as I could.One line in the book stated of romance novels, that "the author was promising one hell of a courtship", and Ms Ackers certainly delivered. Pick up this book for one hell of a read!Reviewed by Ashiafor TheRomanceReviews.com