Love, In English by Karina Halle ~ Review

Synopsis:

He’s thirty-eight. I’m twenty-three.

He speaks Spanish. I speak English.

He lives in Spain. I live in Canada.

He dresses in thousand-dollar suits. I’m covered in tattoos.

He’s married and has a five-year old daughter. I’m single and can’t commit to anyone or anything.

Until now.Because when they say you can’t choose who you fall in love with, boy ain’t that the f*#king truth.

***

To a restless dreamer like Vera Miles, it sounded like the experience of a lifetime. Instead of spending her summer interning for her astronomy major, she would fly to Spain where she’d spend a few weeks teaching conversational English to businessmen and women, all while enjoying free room and board at an isolated resort. But while Vera expected to get a tan, meet new people and stuff herself with wine and paella, she never expected to fall in love.

Mateo Casalles is unlike anyone Vera has ever known, let alone anyone she’s usually attracted to. While Vera is a pierced and tatted free spirit with a love for music and freedom, Mateo is a successful businessman from Madrid, all sharp suits and cocky Latino charm. Yet, as the weeks go on, the two grow increasingly close and their relationship changes from purely platonic to something…more.

Something that makes Vera feel alive for the first time.

Something that can never, ever be.

Or so she thinks.

Review:

Funny, bittersweet, and intensely heartbreaking. This is how I will describe this book. It takes you to different heights of love and plunges you down to drown in intense emotions. It makes you laugh, cry, sympathize with the characters and high from different whiffs of emotions.

Love, In English is written beautifully. The sequences of events leaves you on the edge of the seat, and the characters’ emotions reach inside your chest and build a camp in there so it feels like your emotions all along. I think the author has portrayed the issue in the story neatly and handled it all well as the book came to it conclusion.

While at times it seems that the events are slow-paced, it isn’t boring. In every book I always find a couple of characters to dunk in a river of lava (usually the heroine herself), but Vera Miles isn’t your typical how-stupid-are-you? heroine. She knows what she’s caving in on; falling in love with a married man is one thing, and acting on it is another. I admire her strength to stick to her morals even though she’s hurting and all she wanted was to be with Mateo. I like the way she uses her brain even when overwhelming emotions are flooding and drowning her.

This is a brilliantly written book. The emotions reach out to the readers and wrap itself around them. The book captured a realistic dilemma that makes it easy for the readers to sympathize with the characters.

This book is a must-read and must-reread. All is well that ends well. ;) 

~ Zee ~