Love, in English by Karina Halle || BOOK REVIEW

To a restless dreamer like Vera Miles, it sounded like the experience of a lifetime. Instead of spending her summer interning for her astronomy major, she would fly to Spain where she’d spend a few weeks teaching conversational English to businessmen and women, all while enjoying free room and board at an isolated resort. But while Vera expected to get a tan, meet new people and stuff herself with wine and paella, she never expected to fall in love. Mateo Casalles is unlike anyone Vera has ever known, let alone anyone she’s usually attracted to. While Vera is a pierced and tatted free spirit with a love for music and freedom, Mateo is a successful businessman from Madrid, all sharp suits and cocky Latino charm. Yet, as the weeks go on, the two grow increasingly close and their relationship changes from purely platonic to something…more. Something that makes Vera feel alive for the first time. Something that can never, ever be. Or so she thinks.
    I first happened upon this book scrolling through the "Readers Also Enjoyed" sidebar on Goodreads. I thought the cover looked pretty, so I clicked. I admit I totally judge books by the cover sometimes, I can't help it! Sparkles and pretty colors make me go "ooo!".
     Anyway, I was reading what it was about and was so excited because I was like, "Spanish rich guy? This book is perfect and will help fill my cheesy adult romance fix!" And then I got to the "oops but he's married part." I am not one to enjoy the cheating plot device in books. It has to be executed VERY well if I'm going to be able to stomach it- I just don't like it. I actually clicked out of the Goodreads page for this book because I just thought I wouldn't like it. But, one day, I had nothing to read and was bored. I was looking through some more pages on Goodreads and this book popped up again, and since I was so bored I just said "what the hell" and started to read it. Turns out... I loved it. I absolutely loved this book.
      We first meet our main character, Vera, in London having sex with a random guy. Yup. That's the first thing we get to experience. I was kind of caught between either going, "ew wtf no" and "hey if that's what floats your boat". Then she gets to Madrid (I think- it's one of the bigger cities in Spain) and misses the bus that will take her to the villa/housing/place that she will be helping to teach English to a bunch of Spaniards at. But it's okay! Because someone helps her get to the bus and she is able to hop on no problem. She walks to the last seat available, and of course, it's next to HIM. You know, THE GUY THAT WILL CHANGE HER LIFE AND OF COURSE HE'S SUPER HOT AND LOOKS YOUNG FOR HIS AGE BECAUSE WHAT WOULD THIS BOOK BE IF HE WASN'T. *Ahem*
     I won't go into too much of what happened in this book because I think that if you go into it without having much knowledge about it you will be more receptible to some of the more 'difficult' plot points- like the adultery. But I've got to hand it to Karina Halle because she was able to make me love a book that does have cheating in it- and I'm someone who normally HATES cheating in novels.
     I loved this book so much that I also read the sequel to this book 'Love, in Spanish', as well as her newest novel 'Racing the Sun'. Well, I'm still reading 'Racing the Sun', but so far it's awesome!

xoxo,
Jasmine

Karina Halle's website: http://authorkarinahalle.com/

Links to this book
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21899546-love-in-english
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Love-English-Karina-Halle-ebook/dp/B00JMO9W4K