This book is a self-published novel by E.M Tippetts. The review copy was provided by the author. Synopsis is taken directly from the author’s website:
Jason Vanderholt is Hollywood's hottest actor. Chloe Winters is a college student who hasn't bothered to see most of his movies. When they meet by chance, she is underwhelmed but he is smitten. Chloe becomes the woman every other woman in America is dying to be, but it just isn't her fairytale.
I have mixed feelings about this novel. I thought the author’s writing was very good. I could place myself in the situation that the character was in and it felt realistic. However, I just really felt that there was no chemistry between the characters. In the synopsis, it says that Chloe is underwhelmed by Jason and this is very true, but I felt like it continued throughout the entire novel. I felt that Chloe had more chemistry with Matthew than Jason and I actually didn’t like the way his character turned out. It seemed like he was a wonderful person and perfect for Chloe until suddenly…he wasn’t and there was no real explanation behind it, other than how he felt about Jason. I felt like the issue with Matthew came about too quickly and ended too quickly.
I also felt like Chloe was a little needy and couldn’t deal with a problem on her own. She jumped back and forth between Jason and Matthew and whenever something would happen with one of them, she would run to the other one. I am a fan of a strong female protagonist and even though Chloe had been through some horrible things, I just didn’t feel like she was strong when it came to matters of the heart.
However, the biggest issue I had is that there doesn’t appear to be an antagonist in this book unless it’s Chloe being her own worst enemy. I initially thought it was her brother but that issue was resolved relatively quickly and with no real surprises or let downs. Chloe’s problems seem to all work out very conveniently because there is always someone to help her with them. After the issue with her brother was resolved I felt like the novel could have ended because the relationship with Jason isn’t really there in my opinion. He genuinely seems to love her and once she finally gets the guy, she really seems to be a little distant and unconcerned about the whole thing. She begins to come around towards the end of the book but it was a little too late for me by then. She was more upset about the issue with Matthew than anything that happened with Jason. While I know that she pined over Jason after she lost him the first time, it wasn’t as dramatic as her reaction about Matthew was.
The dialogue between Jason and Chloe consisted of a lot of “umms and whatever” (on her part) so I just really didn’t feel a mature emotional connection between them. There wasn’t much chemistry there and although I can understand her feelings about keeping herself chaste, I have a hard time believing that Jason’s character wouldn’t push her, especially the way he was painted as a character.
I thought this book had promise but I was left unfulfilled when it was finished. Although there is a happy ending to the tale, I felt like it fell flat because Chloe seemed to be very emotionally unavailable. While it became better towards the end, I still never felt a real spark between the two characters.
I would consider picking up another one of her books because I thought the writing talent was there but this book was not one that I would read again.
Overall Rating
No comments:
Post a Comment