Mugs of Love (Stories of Love #1) by Norma Jeanne Karlsson

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

★Book Basics★

Genre: – Contemporary Romance
Series: – Stand Alone
Love triangle? – No
Cheating? – No
HEA? – Yes
Would I read more by this author/or in this series? – Possibly
Rating – 2.5

★Review★

I am a bit conflicted on the review and rating for this book.

On the one hand, I liked the beginning, liked the characters, especially the cast of secondary characters.

It had potential, but fell short in a number of ways.

The pacing and the flow of the story was off. It dragged in places, but felt like vital days and weeks were skipped over in other places.

I struggled with the heroine. I am quite frankly sick of Disney perfect heroines that everyone loves and adores (apart from the over the top cartoon villainous character) as she is so kind and lovely and pretty (yet does not really know her own appeal). Oh and is 29 and practically virginal! (Despite a 2 year relationship with a man)

There were odd inconsistencies and plot holes, nothing major, but many little ones that add up.

Stuff is often repeated, for example it is mentioned countless times the heroine had been seeing her ex for 2 years but did not sleep with him as she somehow “sensed” he was cheating on her subconsciously. Yet still sleeps in his t shirt, and seems to spend the first quarter of the book, being adamant she hates him and he has no chance winning her back, yet almost caving a few times as she is such a pushover.

I have no issue with the heroine having a male best friend she is very close to, that is not an issue, but the page time that was given to them, spending days together etc. It felt like there was more interaction and page time, and certainly dialogue given over to that relationship than between Garrett and Emily.

Not to mention Garrett with his ever changing eye colour and Emily’s ability to interpret said eye colour, not to mention interpret the “looks” he gives her!

But despite some minor annoyances, I was plodding along enjoying it, thinking it was a nice light-hearted romance, a hero with a bit of a dangerous past, some intriguing secondary characters I would not mind a book about, a bit of a “stalker” ex but nothing too dangerous, then the book takes a decidedly darker violet turn!

It just did not gel with the first half of the book, and I was not expecting how graphically descriptive it got at points, given the mind set I was in from the first half of the book. And it actually put me off the Hero and the other characters, given how much they enjoyed and dragged out getting their “revenge”.

2.5 rounded up to 3, at most, as there were bits I liked and characters I loved, but it was most certainly a book of 2 halves that did not match.

Amazon UK Link: Mugs of Love