Sara Ventas

Taking place in Malaga, Spain, newly single Sofia moves out of her parents home to start up a new life away from her family and friends. Sofia meets her downstairs neighbor Jaime one day in the elevator and they both find themselves thinking about each other more and more. However, Sofia is still trying to get over her ex fiance and Jaime is trying to make things work with his girlfriend Susana.

I don't know what to really say about this novel besides it ended up being about a five hour time waster. I think this could have been a really cute romance novel but it ended up splintering off into nonsensical side plots with two main protagonists that I was not rooting for at all.

Sofia seemed like a spoiled brat and just a horrible friend to her friend Manu. Based on some things that she said to him about his sexuality she was also written at times in an offensive manner to boot which definitely did not make me like her.

Jamie was a wishy washy character who when we find out his backstory I ended up disliking immensely. I don't want to give anything away to any potential readers out there but when you find out about him and how his relationship with his girlfriend Susana started some romance readers may not be thrilled.

When the story devolves into a side plot dealing with the history between Sofia's aunt and Manu's father I just rolled my eyes. It was brought up out of nowhere and there seemed to be no real reason to even remark upon it.

I think that since this ended up being translated from Spanish into English perhaps some nuances of the plots and people just don't come across very well when translated. I am sure the main audience for this novel is quite familiar with Spain and its history and the differences that exist between food, language, etc. based on where a person is born. However, an American audience may not know that or at least may not be inclined to go read up on things to get a better sense of things.

I would not recommend.

Please note that I received this novel for free via the Amazon Vine Program… (plus d'informations)