A Solitary Romance ~ A Review

It's been a long time since I've given you guys a review post and I'm excited to hear your feedback on this one. :)

I noticed something interesting the other day: people usually only share their 5-star reviews on their blog. That's not the case with all of you, but I've never read a completely negative review. Don't worry, this one isn't going to be completely negative, either, but it won't be 5-star. And while I'm sure other people will enjoy this book heartily, I will not be able to recommend it in good conscience to you all, my lovely blog readers.

Having said that, the review.

~Back Cover~

Katrina Crimshaw leads a double life as an auditor by day and jewelry blogger at night. When she meets the man of her dreams, again, her life becomes even more complicated. Juggling success under a pen name with her day job and continued encounters with Robert, a man from her past that she adored from afar, proves complicated for the shy bean counter. When an attractive museum director enters her life, all bets are off as the day dreaming Katrina tries to make sense of her predicament.
When passion flares in this second chance romance, will she let love slip through her fingers again? A Solitary Romance is a clean romance that will set readers’ pulses racing and book one of the Only Love Series.

 ~Characters~

Katrina: With interesting occupations and a completely distracted daydreamer, it took me a little while to decide what I thought of this character. Her occupation as a blogger and her jewelry fascination interested me. I found that the story grew confusing due to her always tuning out the world and that she was a little over the top even for a typical day dreamer and romantic. Still, I think every girl can relate to some degree.

Robert: The old college crush that never went anywhere who happens to be even more distracting than the rest of Katrina's life. This was put to good use and was usually quite funny, but it got a little old and cliche. However, he had a nice personality. He just seemed very undecided on whether he was going to be overly nice or overly cold.

Kiki: Katrina's Hawaiian coworker who provides extra comic relief and assists with Katrina's wardrobe in a pinch. I never grew overly attached to her.

Jim: Katrina's older brother who is on leave from the military. This was by far my favorite character. His relationship to his sister was realistic and I enjoyed his light-hearted and charming personality. He was much more down to earth than the other characters.

Barry: A museum curator who hires Katrina to help him with a gigantic jewelry presentation and proves very young and dashing at the same time. I wouldn't have minded having a little more of this character.

~Setting~

If it said where it was, I actually don't recall. But it was a big city with the primary locations including an office building, apartment complex, restaurant, and museum. While none of these locations were dazzling, they all fit the business world that both main characters were swept up in very well.

~Plot/Theme~

Katrina is asked to help the head of the museum display several famous jewelry collections for a grand presentation. Thrilled, Katrina does her best and is gratified when all turns out to be stunning and she gains some credit under her jewelry blogging alias. Meanwhile, she's also trying to balance the disruptive presence of her former crush and now new boss at work. She's determined to secure a good business deal in order to prove herself so he'll stop scrutinizing her. Her combination of lightheadedness and airheadedness are not helped by his presence.

~Overall~ 

If you remember, I switched to the mushroom system of rating. I decided to give this book 5/10 'shrooms. That may surprise you, given the above, so I'll explain briefly.

I read this book in two days, which is always a great compliment. I did want to know what happened! However, I was disappointed by the end of it. I do understand that this was a romance and probably not one I would have read just from its description. But I agreed to read it and provide an honest review. 

I enjoyed it more than I thought, because the characters were a little hard to figure (which was equally frustrating). However, both of Katrina's occupations went a little in-depth, making it hard to follow or relate. Her passion for design and noticing pretty things appealed but her rattling off details about setting and facets was a little droll, only because I couldn't follow. The same with her auditing job; a little too much detail since the average reader isn't an auditor. The romance elements did stay clean as the book promised, but the end was overdone and made me uncomfortable. However, the characters did intrigue me and the dialogue was excellent, despite lots of telling in between. Unfortunately, the bad overshadowed the good in my mind. But I can't blame this book for not being my genre.

All in all, not something I would recommend to any of you because there was no deeper theme to redeem itself. I had hoped the religion thread might come up and keep Katrina in place, but it kind of dissipated. It was a fun fluff read for a day, though, and I don't entirely regret pushing through with it. It's always good to read something you never would have otherwise. It's a learning experience :)

You can read my reviews on Goodreads and Amazon for a more coherent and professional review ;)

~~~~~

What do you think? Too scathing? I tried to be nice about how much I disliked elements of this book, because there really were parts I enjoyed. Have you ever read a book that you decided to finish and were disappointed?