[Book Review] Mister Romance by Leisa Rayven
- 2 feb 2020
- 6 minuten om te lezen
Yay! he first book in my review-series I promised to write...a hundred years ago. I'm not good at keeping promises to myself:(
Anywho! First things first, I never imagined this book to be the first. I've read so many NA/Contemporary Romance books over the past few months which I was 'planning' to write a review on but never got the chance to do so (aka me being a lazy-procastinating ass).
You'd expect this book to be THE ultimate book hangover, 6/5 stars yada yada. But it isn't. There were books I preferred over this one. However, this book has a special charm that grew on me overtime.
I found this book when looking for the 'nerd' genre on GoodReads. Upon reading the description, it only got me mildly interested, 'nothing special' was what I had thought. And the cover was okay-ish. I liked the fancy use of space-y brushes and effects and the guy was pretty handsome. Not someone I'd go totally heart-eyes over but he's a solid 7. Overall, my first judgment was average.
But in the end it won me over. 5 stars and listed on my 'favourites' shelf on GR. Keep on reading for the review:) [**Might contain spoilers**]
Max Riley aka Mister Romance brings romantic fantasies to life for a price. He's New York's hottest escort and has NY's socialites in a frenzy. All the while under the guise of his alter-ego M.R.
Investigative journalist Eden Tate is having none of it. When she got word of M.R. and his ways of working, she's determined to expose his shady business of swindling lonely society women out of their fortunes.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Max obviously doesn't want his business and client's identities to be exposed. He values his anonymity like a holy grail so he challenges Eden to go on three dates. If she doesn't fall for him, she's allowed to scream and shout his story for the world to read. If she falls, like all the socalites, the stories is burnt to the depths of hell.
Eden, a cynical by heart, believes she is immune to his charms and fake personas. But things get complicated when Max confesses he's falling for her. What's a girl to do? is he, the conman even speaking the truth? or is he playing her as a way to rid her off her career-making story?
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I have my 'own' rating I apply to the books I've read (mainly romance). They generally consist of:
1) The story keeps me on my toes.
2) Relatable and likable (main) characters.
3) The emotions it stirs inside me.
And some other topics related to the book, things I specifically liked in this book, downsides and whether they're bad enough to deduct any stars.
1) The story keeps me on my toes.
Yes and no. As mentioned before, this book grew on me overtime. In the beginning the dialogue with her sister was fun and a good introduction on their views of romance. Although I'm more like her sister Asha, I get where Eden is coming from. It gets even clearer why she looks at romance the way she does based on her backstory later on. Although it was fun, light-weight banter, I felt like it dragged on for too long. At some point I want to read about what she's doing on an ordinary day.
The story picks-up the pace when the main lead finally gets introduced. Again, this felt a tad bit long but the mystery about how he evades her investigative attempts while knowing her real identity does pique my curiosity.
After their face-to-face meeting, the pacing improves and makes for a good slow-burn romance. Personally, I wished for more angsty scenes, maybe dig deeper into their pasts to create an extra layer of angst to keep us eating up the pages. As of now, the main conflict revolves around the story and figuring out the mystery that is Max. Perhaps that explains how Eden's cynical and hesitant way of embracing romance got repeated a dozen times. They felt like fillers.
But the ending, oh wow! It's possibly the best ending I never knew I needed and didn't expect. It was well thought-out.
Sometimes when I can't wait how their story progresses, I skip chapters ahead to read the first few sentences (this is a good thing btw).
2) Relatable and likable (main) characters.
Totally. When they meet, sparks fly. The chemistry jumped off the pages and the electricity zipped right through me. Damn. Few books really made me squeal over the guy. This was one of them. How he takes care of her, goes out of the way for her, takes care of the duck pet and the wise words of romance he tells her. I was swooning through it all. By the way, I didn't feel like he was an escort. More like a highly skilled Comicon roleplayer, not sure if this was a good thing? for me it was. They looked like two people where one of them has romantic experience which he uses to break the walls around the romantic-pessimist.
This is also a rare book I found myself highlighting inspiring quotes from.
"Because it's easier for you to think being alone is a choice rather than admitting you might be unlovable." He looks me in the eyes.
"Let me tell you, you're not. Not even a little. The man who made you think that -whoever the hell he was- couldn't have been more wrong."
Eden was a strong character and has walls around her that puts the Chinese wall to shame. Although I like her, there were some things that got me almost rip my hair out. I get it, she's cynical, afraid to love because of her past. But her way of dealing with it, that she thinks she gotta carry the world on her shoulders and being alone is for the best, is wrong. It got me mad frustrated when she pushes Max, who treats her like a gem, away. After 10+ years wouldn't you consider your ways of thinking, to treat the scars of your past instead of burying them.
I got a hate-love feeling with her. Maybe because I can relate myself to her standoffish way and I don't know whether this is positive or negative and argh.
3) The emotions it stirs inside me.
"I have no idea how he treated you like you were invisible. When I'm with you, you're all I see."
75%. What disappoints me the most (about myself) is how the intimate scenes didn't make me...feel anything. Maybe it's because I've read so many romance novels lately? It was the sweetest, I could imagine it vividly inside my head and yet, it didn't so much as give me a tingle. Which sucks because the beginning, when Max was still a mystery and they had electric, blazingly hot conversations, it got my gut twisting in excitement. I couldn't put the book down.
However, there was one scene where I cried. The tension was rising and through tears it got me saying noooo. So that's a big plus.
4) Other remarks
I think I know what made this book grow on me. I'm drawn to the enigmaticness surrounding Max and how he's tech savvy. I'm a sucker for good looking nerd book boyfriends. I also liked how he's damn loyal. He never strays from the one he's attracted to, eventhough he's surrounded by America's top models on a daily basis. But the fact that he 'never felt that way around any woman before' makes me think 'yeahhh, right'. But who am I to judge? He's still one of the guys I got a book-boyfriend-hangover from.
I also like how a one-dimensional side character has another side to himself. Because of the way he acts and scolds the main character, you, as the reader would assume he'd be one of those stereotypical people. He pleasantly surprised me.
What's unique to this book is how it teaches you about the ways of romance. What it is and why you should embrace it. For people like me, who don't have much experience with the romance aspect, it holds many wise lessons.
If you enjoy a book that keeps you on edge enough to keep you reading until the end, that temporarily takes away the troubles of life, has electrifying chemistry between the main characters, this is the book for you:) It's for sure one of my favourites.
Overall mood from begging to the end:
^The ending
^Max and his romantic multiple persona ways
Ps, if you have any feedback on what I could improve on book reviewing (this is all new to me), do let me know by sending me a message through 'Contact'!
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