Eclectic Reader on Amazon - 5 STARS
"Alissa Baxter has done a wonderful job of depicting modern life for young professionals in South Africa, including the ups and downs of jobs and living arrangements and awkward "digsmates." (Roommates.) At the same time, her protagonist, Emma, is shown growing and changing and developing deeper insights into her issues as she blogs her emotions and jaded opinions of dating into an anonymous blog. By the end, she has a much clearer, less black and white view of romantic relationships, and the courage to risk her heart. Baxter's psychology is intelligent and compassionate--and as applicable anywhere in the world as it is in Cape Town. I look forward to her next book!"
Desere Steenberg - 4.5 STARS
"We all have different ways of venting our anger and frustration of life, the most powerful way being to get your words out into the open. This is what the heroine Emma does, she starts a blog and blabs away about "serial datists"and just how unsuitable they are, but she comes up short when her views are challenged by the comments of a man who in her opinion has no clue what he is talking about.
But his comments also get her to thinking maybe it is time she faces her past and goes on a journey of self discovery before she is lost to the world forever. Her journey includes a new job, but working for sexier than lace and satin romance author Nick proves rather difficult. The man seems dead set on breaking down her defenses and no matter how hard she tries it seems he's succeeding, which will all be okay if he was not the exact type of "serial datist" she so desperately needs to avoid. I really liked this read. It was fun , upbeat and witty! I laughed so hard at times at some of the lines the author lets the characters come up with that I found it hard to stop the laughter, even though it was more of chuckle than a full out laugh lines, it was the way the author brought them across that really made it stand out.
I loved the idea of a blog being used for someone to vent their anger, usually it is a letter, text message or anger social message that most people of today use, so the idea of a blog was really cool. I have seen it done before in one other read and to find it in this read again made it stand out as a really interesting way of approaching life's troubles. As we all know the best way to get over something is to talk it out, so of course we go running to our best friends but when we don't have any or even if we feel that our issues are not up for discussion with our closets of pals, they might think you nuts, but talking to strangers seems a good idea as they don't know you and thus they can look at the rant you are having with a different prospective. And the author using a blog as the go to place to rant and rave was great.
The characters of Emma and Nick were both well written and their emotions were well depicted throughout the read, but the main focus was of course on Emma . Nick was really neat in his manner of not backing down from letting Emma crumble and it was fun to see her fall. I'm taking away a message of not all men are what you think they are, sometimes you need to be thrown around a bit in order to be molded to the type of woman any man will want, and when the right one comes along you will be thankful for the lessons you learned from the past relationships.
The author also brought South African into vivid splendor in this read with stunning backdrop setting descriptions. I recommend this read for anyone looking for a different look at the romance world and what happens when you put your words out there for the world to see.
"One of the sexiest cyber affairs ever is about to change her life."
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