Review: Can this be real?
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 20, 2012
Tightly written and fast-paced, "Real Romance" follows Marie McCloud, a bookstore manager and David Lake, an optician whose love at first sight took a long way around (complete with a misunderstanding about an ex and family members meddling) for them to get their happily-ever-after.***MY TAKE ON THE STORY with POSSIBLE SPOILERS***Being bookish and running a bookstore might be a cliché but Marie McCloud is all that. Add the fact that she had been burnt twice in the romance department, it's not surprising that she retreats easily when it comes to the matter of the heart. Then of course, she has a penchant for romance novels and thus there is a certain idealism and fantasy when it comes to Mr. Right.Devastatingly handsome David Lake is a babe magnet and has had his fair share of playing the field but he could not just take Marie McCloud out of his mind. Taking advice from the wrong person, he pursued Marie but found himself making the dumbest mistakes. Yet, even in the comedy of errors that followed, he still got the girl.With the author naming the book, "Real Romance", it might be because of the references to romance novels and what was happening between Marie and David is real, as in "real life."David and Marie are "real" people alright. They can be the people living next door with their ordinary jobs and ordinary life. Both are working class, drives a sedan instead of imported sportscar and worry about the cost of heating bills.Yet, there is also fantasy in this one like David's single-minded pursuit of Marie, even on how their HEA came to be in the ending.And these are the two reasons why I gave the book 5 stars - fantasy meets reality in a highly enjoyable book.