Saturday, December 21, 2013

Review: Mistletoe and Magic by Katie Rose

I didn't enjoy this story all that much.  Maybe it's because it's book 2.5 in a series, and I've not read the other books.  But I never felt very close to the characters or cared much about what happened to them.

What bothered me the most though was that I found the hero, Jared, to be creepy.  Penelope tells him from the beginning that she isn't interested.  (As readers, we know she's only saying this because she's foreseen his death and doesn't want to get involved with a guy who is going to die.  I guess. Or maybe she thought if she didn't get involved with him then it would mess up what she'd foreseen and then he also wouldn't die.  Not entirely sure, but I know she did like him, but because of the vision, she wanted nothing to do with him.)  Jared has just met her, he doesn't have any way of knowing that she's pretending not to have feelings for him.  But he won't go away.  He's showing up at her house, he's buying her lots of expensive items. (I also don't like men who think they can buy affection with expensive gifts.)  He starts asking her family about her schedule so he can show up anywhere she might be.  I didn't find this romantic, I found it disturbing.  She tells him over and over again to leave her alone.  Really bothered me.  If she wanted him, she had plenty of chances to let him know.

I understand that things like that may not bother other people, but it bothered me a lot and no matter what happened later in the story, I couldn't get past seeing Jared as a creepy stalker.

Also, I never saw them "fall in love".  Yes, they both admired each other from afar, but they hardly spent any time together.  Then all of a sudden, they're in love and having sex on the sofa in the middle of the day.  Okay, whatever.  Needless to say, didn't find the love scene all that sexy.  It was so awkward.

Based on the description and title, I thought there were be more magic in this.  But other than her visions - which mostly seem to be about people getting married - there wasn't much magic.  I read this book because I thought the cover was pretty.  There, I admit it.  And I still think the cover is pretty, the story though, didn't do much for me. 

I received a review copy of this via NetGalley.

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