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bookworm32's review
3.0
A sweet book; somewhat predictable, but very enjoyable little read over all.
vixenchick's review
4.0
What a sweet book this was. I loved the characters and I love the descriptions the author used. Quick read and well worth it.
tita_noir's review
4.0
When I first put this book on my TBR, I shelved it as 'Romance'. But after reading it, I had to re-shelve it under chick-lit (or whatever the male first-person, narrated version of chick-lit is called). This is not a romance novel, imo, but I'll get into they why of that a bit later.
I had just finished reading the hysterical kindle bargain/freebie, [b:Playing for Keeps|11381643|Playing for Keeps (A Neighbor from Hell #1)|R.L. Mathewson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327887927s/11381643.jpg|16313158] written by a new-to-me, never before heard of author. This was also kindle bargain/freebie with a new-to-me, never before heard of author. I figured I was having good 'new-to-me' author karma so why not give it a try.
Right from the beginning I was hooked. Drew's ex-girlfriend, a vaguely drug-using bar-fly hops out of a car in front of his house and hands him the baby she recently had. His baby. All she would say is 'I don't want it, I can't deal with it..." and basically drives off into the sunset with her new, copiously tattooed boyfriend.
I can't remember the last time, if ever, I've read a light, romace-ish book from a male, first person POV. I wondered if the author would get the vibe right. I think overall did she did a great job.
The rest of the book is a humorous, heartfelt and sweetly emotional look at a guy trying to cope with this change in his life. The scenes of Drew slowly adjusting to life with a newborn will feel very familiar to anyone who has had to learn how to be a parent, even if it was an event where, unlike Drew, you planned for it.
The writing is instantly connectible. The pace of the book is at once lazy and brisk. The story and plot actually move, but at the same time I felt like we lived a bunch of slow, hot summer the days with Drew in his small town, feeling his resentments of living in said town. He has a deep history with the place and people and we come to understand his sense of loneliness and bitterness even amidst all the familiarity. So when Nick, his son, gets dumped in his life it is an unlikely opportunity for Drew to learn about real love and connectedness.
And this is why I do not call this a romance. For all that Drew does pursue an actual romance and there is an actual character who could be characterized as a heroine, the real love story here, imo, is the one between Drew and his son. I absolutely loved that story. I love that we got to watch Drew's initial bafflement, fright and hostility change into acceptance and responsibility and finally into true love. I also think this writer got it correct the way she wrote about Nick and his progression and he grew from an undernourished baby to a fat and sassy toddler.
And while there is some angst, mostly from Drew's background as an orphan, the overall tone of the book is one of smart storytelling and spot-on humor. The scene where Drew is interviewing the babysitter is laugh-out funny. Every reference to his baby-sitter throughout the is great stuff and mined excellently for wry humor. And Drew's overall voice is very charming and affable.
I figure I should probably talk about Kris, the main female character who is Drew's best friend since child-hood and is eventually the person he ends up with in the book. She was an excellent character for what she was. Except I found it difficult to get too worked up about her as a love interest. I didn't feel any chemistry between Drew and her and that could be because the author did too fantastic a job on making them great friends. The friendship stuff, now that was great.
I think anyone who goes into this expecting a traditional romance will be a tad disappointed. But there is a romance, it just didn't feel like the focus of the story.
But this is a great book. Fun, funny and well written.
Highly recommended!
I had just finished reading the hysterical kindle bargain/freebie, [b:Playing for Keeps|11381643|Playing for Keeps (A Neighbor from Hell #1)|R.L. Mathewson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327887927s/11381643.jpg|16313158] written by a new-to-me, never before heard of author. This was also kindle bargain/freebie with a new-to-me, never before heard of author. I figured I was having good 'new-to-me' author karma so why not give it a try.
Right from the beginning I was hooked. Drew's ex-girlfriend, a vaguely drug-using bar-fly hops out of a car in front of his house and hands him the baby she recently had. His baby. All she would say is 'I don't want it, I can't deal with it..." and basically drives off into the sunset with her new, copiously tattooed boyfriend.
I can't remember the last time, if ever, I've read a light, romace-ish book from a male, first person POV. I wondered if the author would get the vibe right. I think overall did she did a great job.
The rest of the book is a humorous, heartfelt and sweetly emotional look at a guy trying to cope with this change in his life. The scenes of Drew slowly adjusting to life with a newborn will feel very familiar to anyone who has had to learn how to be a parent, even if it was an event where, unlike Drew, you planned for it.
The writing is instantly connectible. The pace of the book is at once lazy and brisk. The story and plot actually move, but at the same time I felt like we lived a bunch of slow, hot summer the days with Drew in his small town, feeling his resentments of living in said town. He has a deep history with the place and people and we come to understand his sense of loneliness and bitterness even amidst all the familiarity. So when Nick, his son, gets dumped in his life it is an unlikely opportunity for Drew to learn about real love and connectedness.
And this is why I do not call this a romance. For all that Drew does pursue an actual romance and there is an actual character who could be characterized as a heroine, the real love story here, imo, is the one between Drew and his son. I absolutely loved that story. I love that we got to watch Drew's initial bafflement, fright and hostility change into acceptance and responsibility and finally into true love. I also think this writer got it correct the way she wrote about Nick and his progression and he grew from an undernourished baby to a fat and sassy toddler.
And while there is some angst, mostly from Drew's background as an orphan, the overall tone of the book is one of smart storytelling and spot-on humor. The scene where Drew is interviewing the babysitter is laugh-out funny. Every reference to his baby-sitter throughout the is great stuff and mined excellently for wry humor. And Drew's overall voice is very charming and affable.
I figure I should probably talk about Kris, the main female character who is Drew's best friend since child-hood and is eventually the person he ends up with in the book. She was an excellent character for what she was. Except I found it difficult to get too worked up about her as a love interest. I didn't feel any chemistry between Drew and her and that could be because the author did too fantastic a job on making them great friends. The friendship stuff, now that was great.
I think anyone who goes into this expecting a traditional romance will be a tad disappointed. But there is a romance, it just didn't feel like the focus of the story.
But this is a great book. Fun, funny and well written.
Highly recommended!
lenoreo's review
4.0
I enjoyed this so much more than I was expecting to. To begin with, I have no aspirations to be a mother...and usually books heavily involving children just don't do it for me (which begs the question, why did I purchase this one right?). But the book was just wonderfully written...it was more real. I don't even really know what most of the characters look like, and I didn't get the impression that Drew was this uber hottie, just an average guy. And boy, was he ever man-like in his personality sometimes....it was really refreshing. And how he dealt with Nick was just priceless and realistic. The friendship between Drew and Kris was fantastic...not perfect, but just real. Even the stuff involving the baby weren't all cutesie, but more realistic...it made the moments Drew described the snuggles hit my heart in a way that most books with children just don't... So yeah, real is basically the thing that stood out most for me. And funny. My brain feels like it's not writing good anymore, so I shall stop now....
becxreadz's review
5.0
i really enjoyed a romance from a guy's perspective. Hilarious and well written. Great story
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