Review: Positively good fun, just like the rest of the series!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 21, 2014
Continuing the trend of providing super sweet reads for romance, time travel and contemporary fans alike, MY NOT SO SUPER SWEET LIFE by Rachel Harris is a long novella that will have readers oooing and ahhing and curling their toes with glee in no time. It’s a delight! …Even with the not so super sweet title. ;)Rachel obviously dove into writing MY NOT SO SUPER SWEET LIFE doing what she knows best - and that’s creating conflict for characters who least deserve it and making us fall in love with them even more as they figure things out. The girls are real and, in many ways, just like you and me. The guys… well, the guys may be beyond swoon worthy and almost *too* perfect for words, but their gentle sensitivity and 100% boyfriend worthiness will have the reader wishing they had such a great guy in their life. (Or turning to their significant other grateful that they actually do…) ;)It was so awesome reading half of MY NOT SO SUPER SWEET LIFE from Lucas’s point of view. Cat is great, don’t get me wrong, but Lucas provides us with the “other” side of the story, giving the series some “maleness” I hadn’t even realized it needed. If you know anything about the author, you’d know that she is Girly with a capital “G”. But Lucas is portrayed as a solid guy the whole way through! Plus, the words “Not So Super Sweet” suit him, too, because his life isn’t working out as he’d like - not unlike how Cat’s life appears to be unraveling around them. The family lives of both Cat and Lucas are spinning out of their control – and this conflict is what MY NOT SO SUPER SWEET LIFE is all about. How the couple deals with their family trouble, both together and separately, is the focus of the story.I had hoped that the drama within MY NOT SO SUPER SWEET LIFE would have been a bit more intense than it actually was. We finished off A Tale of Two Centuries recovering from the whirlwind of drama that flooded almost every page in the second half of that novel. That was exciting! The focus of the story in MY NOT SO SUPER SWEET LIFE was less urgent, a bit less magical and a lot more Hollywood. While there’s nothing wrong with this, it was a slight turn from what I am familiar with in this series. Cat’s life is firmly planted Hollywood, whether she likes it or not, so we’re going to get a bit of that here. Rachel handles the subject matter of paparazzi and bodyguards as though she has some experience with it. (Are you living some sort of famous double-life that we’re not aware of, girl?) ;) Even still, the relationship between Cat and Lucas is put to the test and strengthened as they overcome the challenges that their families (and Hollywood) throw at them.And Lucas?…. well, I could certainly do with a bit more of him on any page in a book.Pros:- Positively good fun, just like the rest of the series!- Rachel really knows how to write a romance. If you like your guys swoony and their words and actions full of sticky sweetness, these are the books for you!- Adding Lucas’s point of view was a good idea. It provided more depth to their relationship, knowing that he and Cat had some conflict in the prior books. Plus, adding a male point of view was a nice chaNge for the series.- That Reyna bit at the end? Pure evil… but in a good way! (More books, yes?)Cons:- It’s too short! (I know, I know… It’s essentially a long “novella”.  But I’m greedy. I want MORE!) ;)- The mommy-drama seemed a tad bit anticlimactic once the revelation came around. I had a feeling early on that was what was happening and so it kind of killed the emotional pull for me. But the unfinished Ransom business was where my interest peaked. (I think it calls for more stories in this world, Rachel!)- I really, really hope the absentee-momma didn’t get everything she wanted in the end. Sadly, I don’t recall if this was ever fully addressed. Please correct me if I’m wrong or missed something!.The ending to MY NOT SO SUPER SWEET LIFE gives me hope that, while the stories for Cat and Less feel complete, there might still be something left in this world that Rachel has created. (For instance, Reyna and Ransom still need to have their time in the spot light. Just sayin’.) ;)I’ll be the first to pick up anything that is to come in the future for these characters…Plot: 8Characters: 9Setting: 9Pacing: 8Style: 9Grade: 93