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A review by buriedinbooks
How to Survive a Modern-Day Fairy Tale by Elle Cruz
3.0
3/5 stars ⭐⭐⭐
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Thank you to the publishers and Net Galley for giving me a copy of this book! This is my honest review, all views are my own.
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How to Survive a Modern Day Fairy Tale follows Claire Ventura, an aspiring cookie decorator who almost runs over billionaire Nate Naruta and ends up falling head over heels for him in a whirlwind romance.
I really enjoyed this book, but I cannot in good conscience give it more than 3 stars. For one thing, the writing—it’s not good. Like, I was laughing at this book a lot more than the author probably intended because of the word choices and descriptions. A book with the phrase “panty melting smile” cannot be a four or five star read, period; that is the hard line I refuse to cross. And yet, the joy this book brought me is not to be discounted. This was so cheesy and the writing was of such a quality that it played out like a Hallmark movie in book form. It perhaps needed to undergo a few more edits involving the classic “show, don’t tell” rule. I felt like The characters emotions were all too often stated plainly, when they should have been more elaborated upon. The plot also had a lot of pacing issues, most of which revolved around the fact that the romance was insta-love. Not only that, Claire’s doubts as well as her frequent and sudden shifts in mindset really threw me off and there was not a lot of development. Speaking of Claire, I think that she comes from a very interesting standpoint. She’s obviously a hard worker with big aspirations, but she finds it difficult to juggle her dreams with her personal life. This is part of the primary internal conflicts of her character, and as I mentioned earlier, it makes her doubt herself all too often and so she backs out of promises too often. She has not a ton of growth in terms of standing up for herself against Tita Chriss, so it is a little odd to see her suddenly growing a backbone. I don’t think it is done very well. Now, onto the love and trust. Nate is very clearly a man written by a woman: he is a good man; he is very loving, attentive, and kind; he is good at pleasuring women; and he does his best to be there for Claire, even though he has a lot of responsibilities as CEO of a giant corporation. his main flaws are that he can be flaky because of work, he is a workaholic, and… That’s about it. Very reasonable things when considering a romance with a celebrity. Insta-love aside, I think that the couple had some chemistry. It wasn’t mind-blowing, but it wasn’t lackluster either. I really liked their banter, but I would get frustrated at their miscommunication.
I repeat: I cannot in good conscience give this book more than three stars. However, if you’re looking for a fun, trashy read, I think it is pretty enjoyable! I’m not entirely sure if the ridiculousness was intentional or not, but it made the book very comical and entertaining. 3 stars, and that’s my final offer.
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Thank you to the publishers and Net Galley for giving me a copy of this book! This is my honest review, all views are my own.
-
How to Survive a Modern Day Fairy Tale follows Claire Ventura, an aspiring cookie decorator who almost runs over billionaire Nate Naruta and ends up falling head over heels for him in a whirlwind romance.
I really enjoyed this book, but I cannot in good conscience give it more than 3 stars. For one thing, the writing—it’s not good. Like, I was laughing at this book a lot more than the author probably intended because of the word choices and descriptions. A book with the phrase “panty melting smile” cannot be a four or five star read, period; that is the hard line I refuse to cross. And yet, the joy this book brought me is not to be discounted. This was so cheesy and the writing was of such a quality that it played out like a Hallmark movie in book form. It perhaps needed to undergo a few more edits involving the classic “show, don’t tell” rule. I felt like The characters emotions were all too often stated plainly, when they should have been more elaborated upon. The plot also had a lot of pacing issues, most of which revolved around the fact that the romance was insta-love. Not only that, Claire’s doubts as well as her frequent and sudden shifts in mindset really threw me off and there was not a lot of development. Speaking of Claire, I think that she comes from a very interesting standpoint. She’s obviously a hard worker with big aspirations, but she finds it difficult to juggle her dreams with her personal life. This is part of the primary internal conflicts of her character, and as I mentioned earlier, it makes her doubt herself all too often and so she backs out of promises too often. She has not a ton of growth in terms of standing up for herself against Tita Chriss, so it is a little odd to see her suddenly growing a backbone. I don’t think it is done very well. Now, onto the love and trust. Nate is very clearly a man written by a woman: he is a good man; he is very loving, attentive, and kind; he is good at pleasuring women; and he does his best to be there for Claire, even though he has a lot of responsibilities as CEO of a giant corporation. his main flaws are that he can be flaky because of work, he is a workaholic, and… That’s about it. Very reasonable things when considering a romance with a celebrity. Insta-love aside, I think that the couple had some chemistry. It wasn’t mind-blowing, but it wasn’t lackluster either. I really liked their banter, but I would get frustrated at their miscommunication.
I repeat: I cannot in good conscience give this book more than three stars. However, if you’re looking for a fun, trashy read, I think it is pretty enjoyable! I’m not entirely sure if the ridiculousness was intentional or not, but it made the book very comical and entertaining. 3 stars, and that’s my final offer.