Stella Ricci is bored.
Her overprotective family barely let her out of their sight, despite the fact she’s a grown woman. Yes, she loves her job at her family’s café and she’s the best barista in the entire Monterey Peninsula, but is that enough? She’s thinking no. But what else can she do?
Carter Abbott. Burnt out after the never-ending grind of selling high end real estate in Los Angeles, he’s returned home, unsure of what to do next. He needs someplace to crash temporarily until he gets back on his feet.
It's easy for Stella to suggest Carter move in. Temporarily of course. It'll give her someone to talk to. The only problem?
That one night stand Stella and Carter had about a year ago. They never talked about it. They still don’t really talk about it. Despite the fact that the old chemistry has come back full force. Living together has made that obvious. Should they admit that one night wasn't enough? Or will dating each other turn into an epic fail?
Only one way to find out…
Review:
I have been reading Murphy’s “Dating Series” since book one, Save the Date. This is book four, but you do not have to have read the previous three books to follow along. This book revolves around Stella Ricci and Carter Abbott, Carter being the brother of Stella’s best friend Caroline (from Save the Date).
Stella comes from a large, overly protective Italian family (is there any other kind?) and Carter didn’t have the greatest upbringing with a flaky mother. After Carter moves back home after impulsively quitting his job, he’s in need of a place to stay. With Caroline getting married, she’s about to move out of her apartment with Stella. So Stella needs a roommate, and Carter needs a room! It seems like the perfect situation… except Stella and Carter had a rather hot one night stand a year ago. A one night stand where Carter slipped out in the morning without so much as a goodbye. So yeah, things are a bit tense there. Carter goads her into letting him live with her, and from there it’s basically a countdown to the moment where they fall back into bed together.
I really enjoyed this entry in the Dating Series. I think Carter’s character development was done well, though I would have liked to have learned more about his life pre-Stella. There are mentions of his job in L.A., and of having lunch with his mother, but I think having more of those scenes would have really pushed Carter into becoming a fully fleshed out character. We get a lot more of Stella, including how she interacts with her brothers, father, and grandmother. The men in her family have some very old fashioned, outdated views of women which was a bit frustrating, but understandable. Maybe we’ll see one or two of Stella’s brothers in future books. Hopefully they won’t be macho, sexist Italian stereotypes, because I would like to see more from them! And, of course, I loved Stella’s Nonna. I’m a sucker for any story with large, noisy families.
With Stella, I enjoyed her a lot, although I’m not sure I really bought that she was a commitment-phobe. She kept saying she was anti-relationship, but I didn’t really get that from her at all until things came to a head with Carter when he admitted he had feelings for her. I think the fact that she had sex with Carter and then no one else for an entire year speaks volumes on that one. But I know there has to be some conflict there to force them apart for a while.
There only parts I didn’t really get into were when Stella forced one of her friends into flirting with Carter at dinner. I couldn’t think of why this would be a good idea. It felt a bit high school and maybe a tad manipulative. And I am always wary of books that reference a lot of pop culture. It instantly dates the book, which I get isn’t a bother for most people. But I always love reading books where I can get lost in the story, rather than spend it thinking “that song hasn’t been popular in a decade…” This is especially true of books I like enough to want to read again.
Hate to Date You has a lot of fun, witty banter, and I love that Murphy isn’t afraid to get dirty with the sex scenes. Stella and Carter have a lot of fun chemistry together too and I enjoyed them a lot, from the initial prickly move in to when they finally let their guard down to be vulnerable with each other. It’s always nice when a male lead isn’t afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve!
All in all this an entertaining ride from Monica Murphy. Hate to Date You is perfect if you want something light and fluffy to distract you from all of the uncertainty in the world right now.
Rating: 4/5
The Moodboard
No comments:
Post a Comment