Review: Very poorly edited, but pleasant enough
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 17, 2011
This book was ok, but I didn't find it overly compelling, nor was it easy to read.I'm not actually completely convinced that Wolf speaks English as a first language, & I'm not saying that to be flippant. The entire book actually read more like an Italian trying to find the correct English words. 'This' & 'that' were constantly interchanged, the writing jumped back & forth between past & present tense, & there were so many odd word choices that I'm nearly convinced Wolf learned English second. This is despite the fact that this was obviously written in the British style. Usually I'm one who can overlook editing mistakes, but the ones here became so tedious as to be heavily distracting. I welcomed interruptions.The plot was typical of the romance genre. Claire was unceremoniously dumped by her long-time boyfriend so he could marry someone else as a business strategy. That Italian someone else has a hottie brother named Andrea who will stop at nothing to protect his sister's happiness, even forcing Claire to pretend to be his girlfriend.I'm sure you can figure out how the plot runs its course. It's cheesy, cute, & pleasant. The sex is pretty well written, actually, despite my previous complaints. Probably some of the best writing in the book. The characters are ok. Personally, I wasn't a fan of Claire. I thought she was a little too wimpy, & when I found out she was a lawyer, I did a double take. No way! But it was so. Andrea was a hottie, & I liked him more than Claire. Both characters were pretty standard, however, & I didn't find anything too impressive about them. They simply were, & they were fine.What really impressed me about this book? Wolf's descriptions. I was surprised & pleased with her ability to describe a room, a building, a garden, or wherever the characters happened to find themselves. In fact, it was Wolf's ability to describe the surroundings that made this book 3 stars for me. Between the semi-insipid dialogue, the sad character development, & the extremely lacking editing, Wolf was able to paint visuals for me that were better than the norm. And quite frankly, that's what saved this book.I think Wolf's writing talent was poorly displayed here due to the lack of editing. Had she had someone to work with on this, this book could've been a whole lot more. It's only a dollar, so try a sample. I hope Wolf engages an editor (or a better one) for her other books, tho. This book would've gotten more stars from me if it hadn't been so tedious so often.