99 problems, and a book ain't one

2.85 Stars

    I can honestly say A Novel Obsession was full of surprises, in so many different ways. This book starts out pretty hot and heavy in the bedroom, which gives the feel that this is going to be one steamy read, but really that was just about the only sexually explicit part in the entire thing! Talk about starting off with a bang!

     Really though that was just the beginning of things that were quite shocking going on here. The way this book started, and even through most of the middle was one seemingly centered around romance, but the end, that really took me for a spin. I was not expecting things to escalate as quickly, or anywhere close to the extent that they did. Don't get me wrong, I actually quite enjoyed the action element there, but I think some heavier foreshadowing could have helped make that transition a little more smooth.

    As an avid bookworm myself, I was totally in love with a story about a fellow book lover falling for the author of her favorite books. I thought it was charming. What I did not find charming at all, was the extent of nearly everybody's obsessions in this book. Abby was not the only person with an unhealthy fixation. I was dumbfounded by Rick's revelation, I don't even see why that would have been in there, unless it's setting up for something much larger to happen with it in the second book. I can't even say much against Beau. It was hard to fault Beau of much when really you just couldn't help but to feel sorry for him. Even Daniel with his fixation on a stranger, it just seemed so extreme. To alter your life and desperately search for a stranger because they wrote you a nice note. I don't know though, maybe I'm just a jaded contemporary woman at heart. People my age, they don't have meet cutes anymore, and more to that, if some strange fellow approached me in a public setting and asked me out, there is a good chance I would be completely put off by that. My generation is a little strange, we are somewhere in between the good ole fashioned getting to know someone, and internet stalking an individual to ascertain information before we even give a guy a shot! So I'll chalk that up to me just being a weirdo, and some forms of romance are just completely foreign to me.

    Abby though....she's truly in  a league of her own.  I could have been fine with her being a devoted, avid fan, but the way she talked about her book as if it were actually the author himself, of which she was in a some form of a relationship with....no. That kind of creeped  me out.

    It distanced me from Abby, and quite frankly I was not a fan of her attitude either. It kept referring to how sweet she was, and clearly pretty much any male within range of her "amazingness" will completely fall for her, but I found her rather snotty. I had a hard time seeing the things other people said she was. She made many rude generalized comments about people, which I just thought highly contradicted this sweet persona.....

   "Professional athletes are usually full of themselves. They're not noted for their intellect, are noted for their womanizing, and in general, can't sit still in one place for too long."

*these next two quotes were literally just a paragraph apart from each other*

"Abby immediately sarcastically replied, "Imagine that. I can't believe Rick would be so shallow as to follow around a football player like a little puppy dog."

"You know Rhonda, once a tramp always a tramp. I would have expected nothing less."

Or one of my favorites from Shadyhill, Ohio's sweetheart (her referring to one of the only guys in her 30 years that she's dated on and off multiple times, who was completely head over heals for her)

" We dated a few times, not that I was interested in him. It was more to have something harmless to do and to pacify him."

   I think this a classic case of show don't tell. Show me how sweet and kind Abby can be, maybe keep the judgmental snarkiness to a minimum. Or have her still be wanted for being herself, there is nothing wrong with a good snarky lady, in fact I LOVE them, shit I am one! Just be weary of selling her as Mother Theresa when she reads more along of Regina George from Mean Girls.

   I clearly had a few issues with this book, but as a whole, I think this was somewhere around a 3 star read for me. Beside what I have already said, I do think this author wrote a decent romance book, and honestly an even better one when all the action was involved. If that would have been more incorporated into the story from the beginning I think I would have enjoyed this more. It was pretty well written, and with some small improvements I think the second book could be really good. Really anything is possible. I would be willing to give it a shot and see what happens.

   ***I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review***