Review: Fun read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 26, 2013
***I was given a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review******may contain spoilers***I was torn between rating this 3 or 4 stars, because there were some things that didn't particularly work for me, but in the end I decided to go with 4 stars because it was a fun read and, although it's a long book, it was a very fast read and I finished it in two days. I didn't know what to expect, because a male author writing chick-lit/women's fiction was a little weird for me but I have to say the author managed to get inside the heroine's mind and the character was really believable.Now, I'll start with what worked. Like I said it was fun. Maria reminded me a little of myself, a struggling writer that works hard on getting her novel published but nobody is interested-while books like Mike Grey's detective series are published and somehow successful even if they are basically junk. I had fun reading how Maria decided to "adapt" the translation, making it a successful series in Spain. I had even more fun when Mike was sent to Madrid for the book launch and Maria had to try and hide her little secret.At first I couldn't stand Mike. Come on, he spent all his days on a couch, recovering from hangovers and using women like disposable goods? But after he went to Spain, I enjoyed seeing how karma got her little revenge on him (especially when he forgot the suitcase at the airport!) and I liked the way he slowly fell for Maria, even though at first it was only to prove that his Mike Grey Magic was still working.I liked the descriptions of the settings; I've never been to Madrid or to Cordoba, but after reading this book, I think I'll add them to my list of places to visit. Kudos to the author for this.What didn't work. The part about Cesar. I just don't feel it had anything to do with the book, and it wasn't necessary to the story. I felt like it only dragged it along until he finally left the story, and I think the book would've worked perfectly even without this part. Besides, I can't really understand how a woman would get on a plane with a man she's only just met (even though he's supposedly a famous soccer player, she's only just met him!) and spend days in his house with his family. But maybe it's just me. I didn't like that part also because Maria turned into a totally different person than the one we'd gotten to know so far, going away with him and basically throwing herself at him in the pool. I mean, wasn't she all shy and with her head on her shoulders only a few chapters before?The epilogues at the end were fun, in a sort of movie-like end credits, but I felt they weren't really necessary to bring anything to the story, even though some were funny. I think the ideas for these epilogues could have been developed a little deeper to be used for a sequel to the story. I think it would be fun to know what happens afterwards.Sometimes I got a little confused time-wise. I think especially in the last part, after Maria leaves Cesar and then [she gets her book published and goes on tour. From what I can understand, a few months have passed since the previous chapter [because Maria has had her book published and has become a best-selling author, while Mike has finished writing Erica's books but we're never told how long it has been and since the story suddenly jumps from one chapter to the other, I got a little confused. Maybe it would've been useful to date that chapter, something like "x months later", so the reader would know that some time has passed.I would recommend this to readers who enjoy chick-lit and rom-coms, and who don't mind a man who swears a lot, drinks a lot, and dates a lot. LOL