Suddenly Eden, who’s more accustomed to being set up on disastrous dates by her mom, is going out with a gorgeous celebrity who loves how down-to-earth and honest she is. But for once, Eden isn’t being honest. She can’t bear to reveal that this overpowering attraction could be nothing more than seduction by science. And the only way to know how Adam truly feels is to ditch the perfume—and risk being ditched in turn… (Pub Date: Jan 31, 2017)
Review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. I want to also thank the publisher for giving me this opportunity.
With a witty start, I was sure a funny chick lit was to come but like all chick lits lately this one fell flat. After a third, the book revealed to be not a chick lit about a magical perfume but a romance with a rock star.
Eden has met Adam, who is a musician and nothing about him fits her ideal-man description, except for how good he makes her feel. Then she finds out not only Adam is the vocalist of a super famous rock band but that she had been unknowingly wearing a perfume equivalent of a love potion that night.
Unfortunately that is where the book derails. The plot never took off and all we read about is Eden angsting about her rock star romance with all the clichés to expect from the trope. The only difference is that she also seems to have a hidden talent for singing, and gets a push from Adam. Although I actually loved these parts, I wrinkled my nose at the change in Eden into someone who seemingly always wanted to have a musical career but thanks to her mother's prejudices and past experiences preferred stability.
That way, even though reading gave me a good feeling, thinking back to it didn't. First, it all seemed to fall on her lap, which is never fun to the average girl reading as nothing has ever fallen on my lap, making is hard to relate and even believe. Second, and I'll stop here on this issue, I'm not sure how this helped her relationship with Adam, who had serious trust issues but was definitely the stepping stone to her career—even her first song reminisced his own song. Then again, they were already having a drama contest there over every other issue so one less was actually a good thing.
This book has a number of sex scenes that get pretty intense but it's not full on erotica—if you're worried or interested. And even so, I couldn't find Adam hot. I did like his personality. He helps friends, is quite down to earth, seems to be funny and is super friendly even when Eden's friend was being annoying. Nonetheless, I wasn't swooning over him as I thought I would in the beginning. Being this a romance, I do think that's a minus. Or at least relevant lack of a plus.
Good points? Yes, there were plenty. After a third I found out the book wasn't my kind of story and still it was easy to keep reading. It never really bored me, and notice I was rolling my eyes at the main conflict. Eden never annoyed me, either. I do think she was a nice character. Also, it was super funny how she tried to mingle among Adam's fans. Her excursions to the fan forum were my favorite part. The fandom was very well depicted, too. Look forward to it. Partly related, the author surely did her homework researching about musicians, fans and the such. The descriptions and happenings felt believable. She does intend to continue on the topic for her next book so I can see why but I still applaud her for avoiding being superficial.
I don't think I'll continue reading simply because this is not the sort of romance I enjoy. The whole problem for me is reading the wrong book. If this is for you, I do think you could like it a lot and for sure I don't see any reason you would hate it.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
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