2018, 368p, Clean Contemporary Romance
My Rating=2.5 Stars
Source: I received a complimentary copy from the publisher, which did not affect my review in any way
Greta loves her job as assistant librarian. She loves her best friend, Will, the high school civics teacher and debate coach. She even loves her mother despite her obvious disappointment that Greta is still single.
Then she meets Mac in the poetry section of the library, and she is smitten. Mac is heart-stoppingly gorgeous and showers her with affection, poetic text messages, and free hot chocolate at the local café where he works. The only problem is that he seems to be a different person in his texts than in his face-to-face conversation.
When the Franklin Library is threatened with closure, Greta leaps into action. She arranges for a "battle of the bands" book jam, hosts a book signing by a famous author, and finally, stages a protest that raises more than a few eyebrows.
Through it all, she slowly realizes that it is Will, not Mac, who she turns to for support and encouragement. Mac has the looks; Will has the heart. How can she choose between them?
Check Me Out is a contemporary romance--with just a hint of Cyrano de Bergerac--that reminds us that it is what's on the inside that matters most.
I love the Proper Romance line and I thought this was a book I would enjoy. For some reason, though, it was difficult for me to get into. I'm still struggling to pin down why. I'll start with this: I had a hard time liking the main character. Her reasons for liking Mac were shallow (basically, he's extremely good-looking). He's the cousin of her best friend, Will, who "gifted" him to her for her birthday. The best friend Will is heavy and Greta gets upset at others for judging him for his weight yet that seemed to be a factor for her not being interested in him. She works in a library that is struggling to stay open and goes to great lengths to save it, but I found myself not really caring about that storyline and skimmed over it.
So, did I like anything? I love the cover! Will was an easy character to fall in love with. I enjoyed the dialog, but it wasn't enough to overcome my other issues. There are people that this book will appeal to; unfortunately, I don't fall into that category this time.
1 comments:
I actually really liked this book, but I totally agree with your hangups about it. There's no way a heroine in a book with this premise could come off as anything other than shallow, so I knew I'd have to be patient with Greta :) Still, she's definitely not the most likable character. I enjoyed the book otherwise, though. Sorry it was disappointing for you.
Glad to have found your blog through the LDS Beta Readers group on Facebook. I'm adding it to my blogroll on Bloglovin' so I can come back often!
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