Not that she knows she does. At least not at first. But every man who seems like he might be the one turns out to be someone else’s. So maybe the right thing to do is take a vow to stay single, to keep away from all men, until she can figure things out.
At least work is a bright spot: It’s an anchor to be so good at something, to lose yourself in your job, and Vanessa is a whiz of a chef, so good she makes her grandstanding boss, Hawk—of Albuquerque’s chic Nuevo American restaurant hawk—look good. After all, it’s his name on the awning above the door. If only her friends and family would get on board with Vanessa’s plan and stop trying to fix her up. If she can’t fix her life, nobody else is going to get the chance to try—not her parents, not her friends, and certainly not her ultra-well-meaning but just-not-getting-it sister, Larissa.
And nothing could be more with the plan than helping out at her parents’ house—gardening, keeping them fed, getting them organized with her loyal pet Red Dog by her side. Red Dog is all the companionship she needs. Until Vanessa meets Paul, her parents’ neighbor—he’s all wrong on paper, but he’s got great manners and certainly seems safe. Not bad in the kissing department, either. But just when Vanessa’s guard goes down, the red flag goes up: Could Paul be yet another married man?
Reviewed by: Celia
Rating: 1 star
Review: The story starts off with Vanessa meeting a man for the first time ever after months of correspondence via online dating. After making a quick remark about the stick-figured woman on the bathroom door being sexually biased because of the triangle-shaped skirt (chill out, girl, it’s just a sign,) Vanessa goes into a frenzy trying to make herself look “good” for a stranger; and, when she does meet him, she gets a little too “friendly” and becomes naïve at the assurance that “he is her soul mate.” (pg. 8) Oh, please.
It was only after a
horrific scene with an angry ex-wife that Vanessa realizes that she’s developed
“quite the husband habit.” (pg. 17) Part of me actually thought that she
deserved what she got for being so fast with men; on the other hand, I couldn’t
help but wonder if her intentions were truly genuine.
One thing that bothered
me about Vanessa was how adamant she’d be about taking things slow—gardening,
cooking, biking, walking, and generally living—but, for some reason, she
refused to do the same with men. The character also spent too much talking
about her New Mexico house and her food. We get it, she loves them. Can we move
on now?
Overall, the writing
reads as if you were being preached to. I didn’t feel like I was a part of the
story, or even a spectator of it. At times, the author went off on a tangent to
insert a personal commentary or opinion that had virtually nothing to do with
the story. Also, there were a lot of fragments—too many words and phrases that
were segregated from each other and stationed in their own sentence that made
for some pretty tedious reading. Additionally, the POV was constantly changing.
One minute, the story is being told in the third person, and the next, the
first person takes over in the voice of Vanessa. I really wish the author
would’ve kept this consistent.
If you ask me, I think
this book required more effort. I would’ve liked to have seen Vanessa in her
dating journey and how she came to develop this “husband habit” just so I
could’ve known her better. Maybe if I’d gotten to know her better, I would’ve
cared more for Vanessa and the rest of the cast instead of thinking that they
all could’ve used more renditions of clearly drawn attributes. The best part
about this book was chapter one, where the reader becomes introduced to
Vanessa’s “husband habit,” even though the history of it was never specified.
In conclusion, this was
just a boring and disappointing book that I had higher hopes for.
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