ARC Review: The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren

The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren is a contemporary romance novel which acts as a companion to another book by this author duo, The Soulmate Equation. In the The True Love Experiment, single dad and documentary producer Connor Prince III is recruited to develop a romance reality television show in order to boost ratings for his network. As a result, Connor enlists Felicity “Fizzy” Chen, an outgoing romance author, as the show’s lead. If Fizzy fails to find love, it could mean the end for Connor’s career. However, Felicity is more interested in Connor than the men recruited for her show.

Christina Lauren’s book are usually hit-or-miss for me. My last few books that I’ve read by the author duo resulted in average age. I didn’t even finish their new release last year, Something Wilder, as I found the synopsis didn’t really match the contents or tone of the actual book. That being said, I was hopeful that I would enjoy The True Love Experiment as I really enjoyed The Soulmate Equation. While there were some aspects of The True Love Experiment that I did like, there were other areas where there could have been stronger execution.

The highlight of The True Love Experiment would have to be Fizzy, the main female character. Fizzy has a strong, likable personality. Fizzy can also be quirky, but not in an immature or unbelievable way. That being said, as with both main characters, I wanted a little more from their backstories. At the end of the book, I felt like I had a very surface-level understanding of Fizzy and what she needed in a relationship.

On the flip side, I found Connor to be a little bland. When I think of Connor, I can name several other similar protagonists. While I appreciated his maturity in approaching his relationship with Fizzy, there wasn’t much that stuck out about him to me. Additionally, in very pivotal moments within the book, I found his words and actions to be inconsistent with the characters that had been developed throughout the novel. Also, similar to Fizzy, I felt like I had a very surface-level connection to his character. Although I didn’t dislike Connor and Fizzy together, this prevented me from becoming fully invested in their relationship.

My biggest issues with The True Love Experiment were the plot and pacing. One of the big parts of the book’s synopsis is the reality television show. However, the show doesn’t really start until about 40% of the way through the book. Early in the book, Fizzy and Connor go to a boy band concert with Connor’s daughter. Fizzy attends a soccer game where Connor is a coach. These scenes really didn’t add much to the story for me, as it is established without these scenes that Connor is a devoted father. I found myself just wanting to push through these scenes to get to the real plot of the story.

Once I finally got to the show, I found that it lacked the tension which I expected. Fizzy’s feelings for Connor are established before the show even starts. As a result, I never saw Fizzy as truly invested in the show. The dates which take places on the show are typically summarized very quickly. During Fizzy’s time on the show, I felt like an outsider as a reader which took me out of the story. I assumed going into this novel that the show would be the main tension between the characters. As Fizzy’s relationships would grow with the contestants, she would find herself more pulled towards the producer. Since her feelings were established so early on in the novel, the television show part just like a formality to pass by in order to get to the happily ever after. While there were still some stakes, such as Connor’s job on the line, the stakes could have been much higher if the story was structured in a different way.

While I didn’t dislike The True Love Experiment, I didn’t find myself fully invested or engaged in the story. I was constantly picking this book up and putting it down. In the end, it took me about two months to finish this book. I give this book 2.5 out of 3 stars.

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Secretly Yours Review

It’s not secret that I did like not Secretly Yours.

Secretly Yours is the first book in the Vine Mess duology by Tessa Bailey. This novel follows Hallie, a gardener who lives in a vineyard town, after her former high school crush, Julian, moves back into town in order to work on his novel. Hallie grows closer to Julian after she drunkenly writes him a secret admirer letter. However, this secret becomes more difficult to keep when she begins to develop a real-life relationship with Julian.

Tessa Bailey books, specifically the Bellinger Sisters duology, gained significant popularity on BookTok this past year. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Bellinger sisters duology, but I hoped that I would be more interested in this duology. Unfortunately for me, many aspects of the first book in the Vine Mess duology were quite literally a mess for me. As a result, my experience reading Secretly Yours as a whole was unenjoyable.

One area of the romance novel which needs to excel are the two main characters and the relationship which develops between them. Both of these areas were poorly executed. Both Hallie and Julian are very typical characters of the genre, but aren’t unique enough to stand out from the bunch. Hallie is the typical quirky, disorganized main character who makes incredibly immature decisions. On the flip side, Julian is the very serious, Type A love interest who is very academic and organized. Both characters have half-baked backstories which the author unsuccessfully uses to create a weak third act conflict. Additionally, I felt like they were too different to be a lasting couple. One example can be found when Julian goes to Hallie’s house for the first time and makes remarks about the clutter and Hallie shrugs it off as she just cleaned. Ultimately, I just could foresee too many problems with this couple in the future, so I couldn’t see a lasting relationship between them in the future.

Furthermore, Julian specifically lacks consistent characterization throughout the novel. Julian is introduced as a very serious and scheduled professor. However, his characters does a complete 180, but only during romantic scenes. With Julian, there is a lot more telling than showing. Readers are told that Hallie likes Julian because he is a very kind and helpful person. While he does help a struggling business in the story, I honestly don’t think he would have helped if the business wasn’t treasured by Hallie. It seemed like I was reading two different characters during the novel. I also extremely disliked reading from his POV. The way that Hallie is described during his chapters made me very uncomfortable to read. While the dialogue in this book is overall cringeworthy, some of the worst lines came from Julian. Think about the types of dating app messages where men say they would swim through shark-infested waters to be with a woman. Julian says a line akin to this, but instead of shark-infested waters, it’s a lake of fire. After reading that line, I had to put the book down for a few hours. When you read a romance, you want to like the male love interest. However, I could not stand Julian.

Another weak area of this book was the plot. From the book’s description, one would think the secret admirer letters would play a major role in this novel. However, they are only used to create some added drama at the end to make a conflict which could easily be resolved with one conversation. As I mentioned earlier, the third act conflict was incredibly weak and was a result of the miscommunication trope at its worst. The scenes building up to the conflict in the third act weren’t much stronger. Often times, it felt like I was reading a bunch of repetitive scenes or cute moments thrown in to make me see the male interest in a positive light, rather than scenes that built upon each other. Secretly Yours is a relatively short book as the last twenty pages are a preview of the next book. However, this book took me almost two weeks to read.

Overall, Secretly Yours has been my least favorite book of the year so far. I was very unimpressed by many aspects of this novel. As a result, I rated this novel one out of five stars.

Lore Olympus, Volume 2 Review

Lore Olympus: Volume Two is the second installment of Rachel Smythe’s Lore Olympus series which is a modern-ish retelling of Persephone and Hades. Volume Two features episodes #26-50 of the web comic which was initially published on WebToon. This installment of the series follows Persephone after Hera schemes to get her closer to Hades by recruiting her to work as an intern in the Underworld. Persephone’s first day takes a turn for the worse when Minthe, the office secretary and lover of Hades, gives her bad advice.

Lore Olympus is my favorite graphic novel series, so I was excited to reread some of the episodes from the web comic in the printed version. One issue that I had with the first installment, however, is that it felt like the first book cut off at an awkward place and focused on too many different plot lines. That being said, I appreciated how the author, Rachel Smythe, handled difficult topics in her books. I found that Lore Olympus seemed more complete on its own than the first volume, but also contained many characteristics from the first novel which I enjoyed.

One aspect of Volume Two that I enjoyed was that the story felt more complete and focused. This book focuses primarily on story lines between Persephone and Hades, which I wanted to see more of in the first volume. On the other hand, this book still feels like a set-up for the latter parts of the series which may irritate some readers. Additionally, there are some story lines, like with Eros and Psyche, which were introduced in the first volume, but didn’t really get explored more deeply in the second volume. As a result, readers who were very interested in that part of the first book may be disappointed to see little progress in the development of that part of the story.

Another aspect that I enjoyed was the depth which Rachel Smythe added to the characters. Minthe, who is the lover and secretary of Hades, could easily become a one-dimensional character used to make Persephone look better. Instead, Smythe provides her character more depth in order to make her character more understandable. On the flip side, readers get to see a darker side to Hades at the end of the novel. In the original volume, readers see the more composed side of Hades. However, I think seeing another side of him makes his personality a little more akin to the leader of the Underworld.

Overall, the second volume is a nice addition to the first. Like with many graphic novels, I find myself flying through this book and wanting more. I give Lore Olympus: Volume Two four out of five stars.

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune is a Goodreads Award nominated book which follows Persephone “Percy” Fraser when she ventures back to a small lake town where she spent her summers in order to attend the funeral of a family friend. There, she encounters Sam, the family friend’s son, who she developed a friendship and romantic relationship with during the summers of her childhood, but she has spoken to in twelve years. Every Summer After is a dual POV book, which focuses on one weekend in the present day as well as across several years in the past.

I put Every Summer After on my TBR after seeing many positive reviews about this book online. However, I also saw online that this book contained many similarities to another book on my TBR, Love & Other Words by Christina Lauren. As a result, I wanted to read these books within a short time frame so I would be able to see the similarities and differences. I will discuss these similarities and differences more in depth in a future post. That being said, like other readers, I noticed several strong similarities in plot, tropes, and even conversations between the characters.

As for my reading experience specifically with Every Summer After, I did enjoy this book. However, I think I may have enjoyed it more if I didn’t see all the hype before I read it. Going into Every Summer After, I expected this book to be a five star read. Ultimately, I rated Every Summer After as four stars, but as I continue to think about my reading experience, I fluctuate between 3.5 stars and 5 stars. While I did enjoy several aspects of this book, there were several moments and plot points which hindered my reading experience.

One aspect of Every Summer After that I thought was well-executed was the dual timelines. I’m typically not a huge fan of dual timelines because they can throw off the pacing of the novel. While I did have some issues with pacing more towards the end of the novel, these issues didn’t necessarily come from the dual timeline aspect of the story. I thought Fortune did a good job of selecting scenes that gave us an idea of who the characters were at each stage of their lives and each scene was cut off at a good stopping point.

Like I mentioned, however, I did have some issues with pacing mostly at the end of this novel. As I was reading, I thought the story would culminate at the funeral. However, once readers reach this book part of the story, there is still one third of the book left. What happens at the story is heavily foreshadowed throughout the rest of the book. It seemed like this part of the story was really dragged out and moved much slower than the middle part of the book. Then, there is a huge reveal which is quickly wrapped up and readers get an epilogue of a year later in the story. As a result, the pacing of the last act of the novel felt very inconsistent.

Speaking of the end of the novel, there is a major plot point which annoyed me. I won’t give away any spoilers, but it felt really inconsistent considering the development of the characters. This plot point wasn’t surprising considering the hints sprinkled throughout the story, but it was still frustrating. There are so many directions that the plot could have taken which would have been more true to the characters and the twist felt like a quick way to some last minute drama. It also irritated that this big event which caused the characters not to speak for twelve years seemed to easily be solved and led to a quick resolution.

While I did enjoy parts of Every Summer After, I did enjoy it as much as I had expected to enjoy it. Like I mentioned before, I originally rated this book four stars, but I find myself fluctuating between 3.5 and 4 stars.

Love & Other Words by Christina Lauren Review

Love & Other Words by Christina Lauren follows Macy Sorenson, whose father buys a cabin in the woods after her mother’s death. There, Macy meets Elliot Petropoulos and their relationship slowly develops from a friendship bonded over books to something more. However, one night changes everything, and it isn’t until eleven years and an engagement later that the two meet again.

I was on the fence about reading Love & Other Words. On one hand, I have heard amazing reviews for Love & Other Words and have seen that many Christina Lauren fans regard it as one of their favorites by the author duo. On the other hand, I have encountered several misses from this pair recently, including Something Wilder, which I did not finish last year. While I did overall enjoy Love & Other Words, I did not quite love it as much as I expected.

One aspect of Love & Other Words that I enjoyed was the dual timeline. This story takes place in present day, but also gives flashbacks to different parts of the relationship between Macy and Elliot. Sometimes, I am not a huge fans of dual timelines because they can disrupt the pace of the story if not executed well. However, I do think Christina Lauren did a good job of including scenes which showed the progression of Macy and Elliot’s relationship. In a romance novel, I want to believe that the love interests are meant to be together, and by the end of the novel, I did see Macy and Elliot as soulmates.

Additionally, I appreciated the emotional impact of this story and the emphasis on family throughout the novel. What happens to Macy’s family is tragic, but there is so much love readers see in such a short amount of time. Macy also has sort of a found family through Elliot, who still love and care for her after time passes. In the past, I have read books by this author which lean more lighthearted, so I didn’t necessarily anticipate all of the emotional moments throughout this novel. That being said, I think the emotional aspect of this novel was very well executed.

On the other hand, this created a lack on tension in the novel. At the beginning of the story, both Macy and Elliot are in relationships. While Elliot quickly ends his relationship, Macy stays engaged. However, Macy’s partner has a very flippant view of the situation. It seemed that he didn’t really care what Macy chose. Besides the major event which originally caused their split, this was the only other major obstacle which kept them apart. Even though the author’s tried to create parallels between Macy’s situation with her partner’s past to make his lack of concern seem understandable, it resulted it in a weak portion of the plot.

Another aspect of the novel which hindered my enjoyment was the ending of the novel. Throughout the story, it hints at a major event which triggered the demise of Macy and Elliot’s relationship. It was a shocking reveal, despite clues sprinkled throughout the story, so I do give kudos to Christen Lauren for planning that aspect of the story. On the other hand, the authors drop a massive emotional event onto readers… just to end the story with a quick resolution that doesn’t match the weight of what they just read. It was hard for me to believe that situation which resulted in eleven years of separation could easily be resolved with one conversation. This created an incredibly disappointing end to the story for me.

Overall, Love & Other Words had some aspects that I enjoyed and appreciated. However, there were some aspects of the novel which I found to be weak. I give this book three and a half out of five stars.

Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade Review

Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade is the third book in the Spoiler Alert series, which follows various cast members of a popular fantasy television show throughout the filming of the series. This book focuses on Maria and Peter, two cast members who play love interests and must film together on a remote island after a hookup. Throughout the years of filming, Maria and Peter develop feelings for each other, but question a relationship due to their pasts.

Overall, I haven’t been a huge fan of the Spoiler Alert series. While I typically enjoy the characters which Olivia Dade writes, I am not a huge fan of her writing style. Often, I find the books in this series to not be well-paced, which causes the story to drag. Additionally, I typically find many scenes and conversations to be repetitive, which stops the story from moving forward. Unfortunately, I had many similar issues with Ship Wrecked, the third installment of the series.

One aspect of Ship Wrecked which I enjoyed were the two main characters, Maria and Peter. I enjoyed that Maria always stayed true to herself and would not compromise her morals just to move forward in Hollywood. I appreciated that Maria has a bright, extroverted, optimistic, and confident personality which made her stand out from other characters in the same genre. Additionally, I enjoyed Peter as a male lead character. In romance book, it annoys me when the male characters are “too perfect” with their words and actions. At first, I found Peter very unlikable from his early interactions with Maria and his unwillingness to back her up in order to suit his own needs. While his actions aren’t excusable, it allows his character to undergo a lot of growth throughout the novel.

That being said, I do have mixed feelings towards the relationship between Maria and Peter. On one hand, I enjoyed that many of the disagreements and bumps in the road of their relationship were realistic. The two love interests in this book have two very different views of the world. Based on experiences in their pasts, they have insecurities which appear periodically throughout their relationships. On the other hand, I found these issues to be resolved a little too quickly at the end of the novel. Maria and Peter eventually understand the other person’s perspective at the end of the novel and agree to a compromise in order to keep their careers and their relationship. While I like Maria and Peter and saw them take action to maintain their relationship, I felt like each character made too much sacrifice from what they personally wanted in life to keep their relationship. Even though I was told that these characters would be together forever and ever, I found it hard to believe that they wouldn’t start to resent each other later in life.

A part of this book which frustrated me was the pacing and structure in this novel as well as the series as a whole. This book takes place during the six years of filming for the series and then right before the final season airs. The beginning of this book was stronger than the end of the book for me. When the book reached the current time, the story started to drag with many repetitive scenes and conversations where Maria and Peter speculated about their future careers and relationship with each other. Plot-wise, there wasn’t much moving the story forward, which caused the story to drag, only to end with a very rushed and unsatisfying conclusion to the relationship which I previously mentioned. Additionally, while I did enjoy the beginning of the book more than the end, I felt like it could have been shortened to only feature important scenes which gave readers a better understanding of their relationship.

Some of these issues could have been resolved if written in a different story structure. I feel like the pacing of this story could have been improved if written in the present day with the beginning of the novel appearing as flashbacks throughout the story. As a whole, I’ve had issues with the timeline of this series. Typically, contemporary companion series follow a very linear timeline where once one story ends, the next picks up where the last one left off. However, this isn’t the case with the Spoiler Alert series. In this series, all of the novels occur at the same time, so they will occur at the same time as many major plot points from previous book. For example, part of Ship Wrecked occurs before any of the events in Spoiler Alert, the first book in the series, but then has parts of the novel take place during a major plot point which happens in All the Feels, the second book of the series. As a reader, this made it difficult for me to keep track of what point I was at in the timeline of the overall series, not just in the book that I was currently reading.

While I liked the characters of the book, I did not enjoy this book as a whole. The second half was particularly difficult for me to get through because I felt like nothing was propelling me to the end. I give Ship Wrecked two and a half out of five stars.

Lore Olympus, Vol. 1 Review

Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe is a graphic novel series which gives a modern update to Greek Mythology, particularly the love story between Persephone and Hades. In Volume One, Persephone leaves the mortal realm for city life, despite her mother’s protests. At her first party, Persephone immediately catches the attention of Hades. While excited to live on her own and explore her new world, Persephone quickly learns that not everyone is kind.

I first read Lore Olympus on WebToon, where is was originally published. One day when I was walking through Target, I couldn’t believe to see the series in print form! I have always loved the artwork of Lore Olympus, so I knew I had to purchase physical copies of the series. Volume One of the printed series contains the first 25 episodes of the series in addition to a bonus scene. As a result, most of this book was a reread for me. That being said, I enjoyed Lore Olympus just as much as I enjoyed it the first time that I read it and look forward to rereading the series in their book forms.

One of the best aspects of Lore Olympus is the artwork, particularly Rachel Smythe’s use of color. Each character has a color which they are typically drawn in, so it makes it easy to keep track of the large track of characters. Also, the colors used for each character really embodies the mood of the character and where they frequently appear. Consequently, the artwork shown throughout the book is colorful and expressive. Rachel Smythe also portrays different events throughout the book in a thoughtful and considerate way. At the beginning of the novel, Smythe gives a content warning, as there are some triggering situations which occur throughout the series. I believe her artwork concerning these situations are handled with care.

Another aspect which I enjoyed in this book were the characters and tropes. Persephone and Hades have a grumpy/sunshine relationship, so if you enjoy that trope, you will enjoy many of their interactions in this book. Persephone, the narrator of the story, is a likable character who has the potential to show a lot of character growth throughout the series. That being said, I wish I could have seen more interactions between Persephone and Hades in this volume, as their interactions are limited to the beginning of this volume.

If I had to nitpick this graphic novel, I would say the story ends quickly within this book and it was more of a set-up for the entire series than a complete story on its own. There is a major event which happens at the end of this novel, and while I know it is resolved later in the series, this may be off-putting to new readers of the series, as it is a very traumatic event. Additionally, there were some plot lines, like with Psyche, which I wish were swapped out for sections with more focus on Persephone or Hades. I understand that this sets up for later story lines, but it leaves a lot of loose ends for the first installment.

Overall, I highly recommend the Lore Olympus series. All of the published versions of this series are on my to-read list for the year, and so far, this has been my favorite book of the year. I give this book four out of five stars.

The Stolen Heir by Holly Black Review

The Stolen Heir by Holly Black is the first part of a new duology in the Folk of the Air series which takes place years after the events in the original trilogy. This novel focuses on Lady Suren, who escaped the Court of the Teeth after her family lost the Battle of the Serpent. Now, Lady Suren lives as Wren, hiding away in the mortal world. When she is chased by a storm hag, Prince Oak comes to Wren’s rescue and recruits her on a mission to save his father and to destroy her mother.

I was excited, but nervous for the release of The Stolen Heir. While I loved the original Folk of the Air trilogy, I am always skeptical of new releases in the same world as they may not live up to the other books in the series. Although The Stolen Heir did have some successful moments throughout the book, it did miss the mark in several areas for me.

In The Cruel Prince trilogy, I enjoyed the many twists and turns driven by the characters and politics of their court. However, I found this area to be lacking in The Stolen Heir. I found that this novel takes more of an adventure-based approach which results in most of the novel being event-driven as opposed to character-driven. While there are some strategical elements throughout the book, readers are mostly kept in the dark as Wren, the main character, is not directly involved in most of the scheming compared to Jude, who narrated the original trilogy. The Stolen Heir lacks many of the twists and turns which made The Cruel Prince so fun to read. I predicted the major plot twist of this book fairly early on in the story, so the reveal at the end wasn’t as surprising for me. While the end does promise an interesting premise in the second book of this duology, it wasn’t entirely worth what I put into reading for me.

Another aspect which made The Cruel Prince so successful were the dynamic characters. Often times, Jude and Cardan weren’t necessarily likable, but they were very true to their characters and this was very clear in their words and actions. In The Stolen Heir, many of the characters remained flat throughout most of the novel. The choices they made weren’t extremely dynamic and didn’t raise the stakes as much as I would have wanted. Throughout the novel, I felt like I was being told who these characters were instead of being shown through their words and actions. For example, readers are told by many characters frequently throughout the novel that Oak is extremely charming and manipulative, but I don’t see it to the level that I have seen it previously in this series. Ultimately, Wren and Oak came across as watered down characters of other characters which readers have previously seen in this series.

That being said, there were some aspects of The Stolen Heir which I enjoyed. In the original series, readers spend most of their time in Elfhame. While other places and people are mentioned, they aren’t fully explored. In The Stolen Heir, readers learn a lot more about the fae world, including different monsters and courts. Another reason why I’m such a fan of the Folk of the Air series is that I typically enjoy Holly Black’s writing. I think she often does a great job of selecting precise words which clearly describe ideas and places. At the same time, I don’t think the writing as smooth in The Stolen Heir. Sometimes, it felt like there were strong quotes surrounded by weaker writing in order to have a memorable line.

Overall, The Stolen Heir was a decent book with potential. Unfortunately, most of this book felt like a set-up to me for the next book in the series and lacked many of the elements which I enjoyed from the original trilogy. I give The Stolen Heir three out of five stars.

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace Review

My feelings towards Icebreaker are a little cold.

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace follows Anastasia Allen, an aspiring Olympic ice skater, after an incident at college forces her to share an ice rink with the hockey team. When Anastasia’s partner is injured, she must team up with Nathan Hawkins, the annoying hockey team captain in order to train for a competition. Despite Anastasia’s aversions to hockey players, she develops feelings for Nathan.

I first heard of Icebreaker through BookTok and was drawn in by the cute, illustrated cover. After reading the description, it appeared that Icebreaker would be a cute, sports romance similar to The Cutting Edge, a popular 90s movie where an ice skater must rely on a hockey player to compete in the Olympics. While IceBreaker had an interesting premise, I found the execution to be lacking.

One aspect that hindered Icebreaker’s success was the editing. Icebreaker is slightly over 400 pages, which is not a typical length for a book in the romance genre. While books do not necessarily have to fit the mold of their genres, I find that most romance books which push over the 400 mark suffer from issues plot and pacing. Unfortunately, these were two major issues which interfered with my reading experience.

While I was reading Icebreaker, the description of the plot in the synopsis did not match the contents inside the novel. From the book’s description, I assumed that Icebreaker would primarily focus on Anastasia and Nathan working together in order to prepare for Anastasia’s competition. Following traditional novel structure, this inciting incident should occur early in the book. However, this did not occur until halfway through the novel. Once this situation occurred, only a small portion of the book focused on Anastasia and Nathan working together. I believe if these events occurred sooner and the middle of the novel focused on Anastasia and Nathan’s iceskating and romantic relationship, then the book would have been more successful and more accurate to the synopsis provided by publishers.

Since the plot didn’t adhered to typical story structure for the romance genre, it did not seem to have a coherent structure. When I read a romance book, I like to see the scenes build upon each other. Each scene should show the love interests challenging each other’s false belief about love, and as a result, the characters develop a deeper relationship. I did not find this to occur in Icebreaker. Instead, Icebreaker seemed to have scenes that either centered around popular tropes or situations that you would find in a romance novel, but the scenes weren’t necessarily connected to each other. Additionally, the two love interests start a relationship fairly early in the novel, which decreased tension throughout the story. The scenes in Icebreaker didn’t offer anything new or unique to the book compared to other books in the same genre, so I never felt incredibly close to the characters in those scenes. To me, it felt like I was supposed to believe in the relationship between Anastasia and Nathan purely based on cute moments which they shared as opposed to them developing an authentic romantic relationship.

These issues with the plot resulted in issues with the book’s pacing. Since the main action occurred late in the story, I felt unmotivated to continue reading this book. Many of the scenes at the beginning of the novel were also repetitive, which made the beginning of the story drag on for too long. I think this book would have benefitted from more edition to take out scenes that weren’t purposeful to the story and to make the beginning of the novel tighter. That being said, I did enjoy the last 15% of the book. The events at the end of the story happen quicker and are more tightly written, which made the story easier to read.

Apart from my issues with the plot, I also had several issues with the characters of the novel as one. One, there were just too many! Looking on Goodreads, it appears that the Icebreaker will be the first book in a contemporary romance series surrounding the characters at this college. It is fairly common now for contemporary romances to be turned into series following characters previously mentioned in the original book. That being said, it was fairly obvious in Icebreaker that this was the case. There were so many characters introduced that it was hard to keep track of the characters and their backstories. Additionally, this led to many subplots that weren’t necessarily important to the story. Since Icebreaker already suffered from an inconsistent plot and long length, some of these characters and plots could have been introduced later on in the series rather than all dumped within the first novel.

As for the two main characters, Anastasia and Nathan, I needed more depth. Anastasia and Nathan remind me a lot of other characters from similar novels. As a result, they read as cardboard cutout characters from the genre. Anastasia is a Type A, sarcastic heroine who “isn’t like other girls” because of her casual relationships. Nathan is a player with a heart of gold who will drop anything for Anastasia. Also, the relationship between these two characters was very plot-based as opposed to character-based. For example, Anastasia and Nathan do not reveal their true feelings towards each other after a life-threatening situation that occurs randomly in the book. Personally, I prefer relationships in a romance novel to be a mix where a situation drives the characters together, but choices that they make as a character deepen their relationship. Since Anastasia and Nathan’s relationship was so plot based and I had so many issues with the plot, this hindered my investment in their relationship.

Overall, Icebreaker missed the mark on many areas that I look for in a romance novel. To be honest, if I hadn’t purchased this book, I probably wouldn’t have finished it. While I did enjoy the last part of the novel, the rest of the novel did not meet my expectations. I give Icebreaker 2 out of 5 stars.

The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas Review

A few variables needed to change in order to make The American Roommate Experiment successful.

The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas follows Rosie Graham, an ex-engineer turned romance author, who is struggling to write her next bestseller. When an accident makes her apartment uninhabitable, she decides to stay at her friend’s place until construction finishes. However, her friend’s charming cousin, Lucas, is also staying in the apartment. Not only do Rosie and Lucas agree to share the space, but Lucas also promises to take Rosie on four fake dates in order to inspire her latest novel.

The American Roommate Experiment is the second book in The Spanish Love Deception companion series. The two main characters of The Spanish Love Deception do play a role in the second half of this book. If you prefer to read books in a companion series in order, I would check out the first book in the series prior to reading The American Roommate Experiment.

When I first read the synopsis of The American Roommate Experiment, I was immediately interested. This book appeared to contain some tropes which I typically enjoy, such as the close proximity trope. That being said, I was still on the fence. I read the first book in this series, The Spanish Love Deception, when it was released. There were several aspects of that book which I did not enjoy, including the cringeworthy scenes and dialogue. Unfortunately for me, The American Roommate Experiment contained many of the problems which I had with The Spanish Love Deception.

One aspect of The American Roommate Experiment which I enjoyed was the first quarter of the book. I thought the first chapter gave Rosie a clear voice in the story and captured her personality. I think the beginning of the story was set up well to introduce the main plot points. While I think it took a little too long to get the main action started, which didn’t occur until about a third of the way through the book, the beginning was easy to read and I was very engaged in the story.

After the first third of the book, the story started to go downhill for me. While I found Rosie and Lucas to be likable, I found some inconsistencies in their characters and their storylines to be imbalanced. I appreciate that the author tried to give Rosie and Lucas interesting backstories in order to make their actions understandable. That being said, Rosie’s backstory was far more developed than the backstory given to Lucas. Additionally, I wasn’t a huge fan of how his character developed throughout the story. Initially, Lucas is described as incredibly charming. However, his character quickly turns incredibly cheesy. His character never felt consistent to me. While I want characters to grow throughout the story, he almost seemed like a different character by the end of the novel.

Another aspect of the story which hindered my reading experience was the plot. As I mentioned earlier in my review, the main action of this story doesn’t start until about a third of the way through the book. Once it begins, many of the situations and conversations became extremely repetitive without moving the plot forward. Rosie and Lucas go on a fake date, something spoils the end of the date, and then the two question the upcoming deadline of their fake relationship. As a result, it sometimes felt like I was reading the same scene or dialogue over and over, just taking place at a different time and location.

Additionally, I did not like how the characters from The Spanish Love Deception were included. Lina, the main protagonist of The Spanish Love Deception, is the cousin of Lucas. She warns Rosie about Lucas and tells Lucas not to hurt Rosie because it would put her in an awkward position. I believe this was included to tie in previous characters from the series and to provide tension to the relationship between Rosie and Lucas. That being said, I am not a huge fan of this trope in novels and I find it as a flimsy way to add tension as well as slightly annoying.

The greatest aspect of this novel which made it difficult for me to enjoy was the cringe worthiness in the scenes and dialogues. I would say the first third of this book doesn’t contain much cheesiness. However, there is one line towards the beginning of the novel which worried me about the direction it was headed. As the book progresses, the dialogue becomes more and more cringeworthy. By the last quarter of the book, I just wanted to finish because it became so persistent that it was unenjoyable for me to read.

All in all, The American Roommate Experiment felt too similar to The Spanish Love Deception for me. Like The Spanish Love Deception, The American Roommate includes fake dating. The characters, which initially didn’t start of similar, slowly changed into having some of the characteristics of Lina and Aaron. Overall, The American Roommate Experiment wasn’t a stand-out read to me. I give this book two and a half out of five stars.