Review: Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover!!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 24, 2013
THIS BOOK WAS GIVEN TO ME AS AN ARC FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.Hot Mess by Anne Conley was an awesome book! It was definitely a romance because it had the typical "happily ever after" but how the hero and heroine arrived at the point was completely different from any other romance I have ever read before. I read it in one day and was mad when I had to stop so I could go to sleep.Sam is a fireman by profession and a single father. He moved to the small town of Serendipity, TX to begin a new life with his 10 year old daughter Amanda. He falls for their neighbor Rachel who is a stay at home mom (but does community outreach work and online blogging for a website) and has a daughter the same age as Amanda. The two girls become instant friends.Sam and Rachel feel an instant attraction but both struggle to admit their feelings because of insecurities, hardships, and broken hearts from their past. They endure this year long tumultuous relationship- one minute they're going to try to make it work, the next minute they decide to pull back. This is after they already sparked a flame for one another.This wasn't just a typical romance. Each time you think Sam or Rachel is going to do the normal "romance novel" thing they do the complete opposite. When reading this book you have to throw all your preconceptions out the window.Rachel is HIV positive. Anne did a very good job balancing their romance with the reality of living with the disease. She explores all the issues and stigmas with living with HIV, especially in a small community. I've read books where characters had HIV, but Anne pushes it even further by not only writing about the person with the disease but exploring what it is to love someone with the disease.The characters are awesome. They're very believable and Anne did a very good job with character development. I can see how each person grew from the beginning of the book to the end.The book had minor typos but not enough to take away from the quality of the story.I loved EVERYTHING about the book except the title and the book cover. I feel both could have been better. If I was browsing Amazon for a book I would have passed by this one and missed an awesome story! I feel the story line is so powerful it deserves a fair chance and I don't think it will get one due to the cover and title. Based off those two things, I think the author will lose readers because people actually do judge a book by its cover.I WILL DEFINITELY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO OTHERS!!!