Fun Fact: When you run a website, people send you stuff for free! Lately, we’ve been getting books from Simon & Schuster’s Gallery Books- their “romance” line. (Of course “romance” usually means sex within the first 3 chapters and every other chapter after that!) We haven’t had time to read or review every book we’ve been sent, but some are too good to keep to ourselves. So today I’m experimenting with how a book review for a book that won’t be a classic; a book that may not be one you can publicly say you’re reading on Facebook; but is a fun, easy read that I think is worth the time to talk about!
A sorta-review of Searching for Someday
I wouldn’t call this a “Spoilery” review unless you really have never read romance before and are shocked that the two characters mentioned on the book jacket have sex, fall in love and end up together. In that case, this totally has spoilers.
The Plot:
Kate Seymour co-owns a matchmaking service with her 2 best friends in a cute, artsy town outside of New York City. Despite the fact that she’s amazing at her job & has matched many successful relationships, she can’t find love herself. Slade Montgomery is an angry Divorce attorney who has only seen the downsides of love. Slade’s sister becomes a client of Kinnections (the matchmaking service) which pisses Slade off for various reasons, and he decides to sign up as a client as well to prove that Kinnections is a fraud & a scam. Kate meets Slade. Slade meets Kate. And since it’s a “romance” novel from Gallery Books, you can imagine who ends up in bed together.
Oh, Kate is also kinda a witch. It sounds weird, but it really isn’t, surprisingly.
Likeability of the characters:
High marks on this one. The characters are super likeable. Kate is sweet, charming and smart (plus she has a little stutter that comes out when she’s nervous or anxious), and she rescued a dog named Robert who was left to die on the side of the road. Her best friends & partners are amazing, although they kinda love cosmopolitans a little bit much for an average mid-twenty something in 2013. I honestly think my 25 year old sister has maybe watched 3 episodes of Sex in the City. Anyway, sidenote..
Kate’s mom smokes weed, buys her vibrators and is a sex therapist. She brings some comedic energy in the story from time to time!
How hot is the man/are the men?
We’re really only talking about Slade in this book, and he is H-O-T. I’ve said before in book club that I literally do not listen when author’s describe characters- I just picture them all on my own. So to me Slade is big & tall with muscles bursting through his white dress shirt and filling out his suit jacket- but it’s not bulky. I’m not talking Hulk Hogan here. I’m talking this faceless man from Men’s Health this month.
How was the sex?
The sex is pretty great. I’m probably not going to recommend a book that doesn’t have great sex at this point in life. Nobody has time for bad sex. It doesn’t necessarily have the creativity of a Beautiful Bastard Series book, but Slade is hot, Kate is virginal & they build up the tension enough so that when it finally happens you are like “damn, get me to 1996 and pour me a cosmo, pronto!”
Any Cheesy moments?
Of course! It’s romance! Why why why do authors think we want characters to fall in love so quickly? You slept with him once, Kate. He’s really good in bed- that’s not love! I’m not just talking about Searching for Someday specifically, but in general romance authors tend to think we want true love and proposals and “I love yous” early on. And every time I read the lines leading up to, “And I admitted to myself, I love him”” I start to gag. Usually they lose me right then and there. That moment happened in this book, but I pushed through. And I’m glad I did.
What about that ending?
This isn’t a Nicholas Sparks book. Everything turns out fine & just the way you want it. I don’t sit down to read & finish a book in 1 sitting (technically I read this in 2 sittings- 45 minutes To work on the train and 45 minutes home) to end up brokenhearted and in tears.
I could have totally done without the epilogue. It’s from the POV of the dog, Robert. It’s probably supposed to be cute and the author is totally into dogs & knows about a rescued dog in real life named Robert, but it kinda killed the vibe. So trust me on it, you don’t need to read the Epilogue.
Overall
I give Searching for Someday a solid 3 out of 5. If you’re looking an for easy, beach (or train commute) read that will be a quick page turner with likable characters, hot sex and an epilogue to skip over, Searching for Someday is for you.
Bonus: It’s the first in a series of which I think future books follow characters introduced in this first book. I’m assuming the next book follows Kate’s best friend who gets engaged but seems miserable about it and whose male BFF is secretly in love with her. At least I hope so. Unrequited love with a tattooed bad-boy is totally a story I’m into.
Searching for Someday comes out TODAY! (which is a total coincidence as I wrote this review last week & never got around to posting it!) You can pick it up on Amazon or at your favorite bookseller.
What romance are you reading lately? Send me your recs in the comments
