Let me preface by saying, this is a book club pick. 😅It is set in the same world as Morning Glory Milking Farm. A monster romance book that is VERY spicy. MGMF was a January read that I really did try to read, however, I could not get past the fact that he had a bull head and the size of the "rest" of him. And what I have heard from my book club friends about the rest of it, I am good with where I stopped reading.
So Overall Opinion: ★★✰✰✰
Overall, I would rate this book at 2 Stars out of 5. While I was able to finish the book, I did not actually enjoy the book. I gave it some points for relatability with her being a teacher and the current lingo being thrown into the book was funny. However, the number of times she used the lingo throughout the book, it started to feel forced and, in the end, "cringy". The characters, for me, were not that likable. The buildup of the characters figuring out who they actually are was very long and disappointing in the end. To be honest, I skimmed through paragraphs throughout the book to get to the actual meat of the story. I just felt there was so much that was unnecessary. Also, there was surprisingly little spice to this book comparatively to Morning Glory Milking Farm and it was very late in the book, where MGMF was right off the bat.
The way it was written was also a little disorienting at times. The emails back and forth was formatted oddly and there were times that I would read one paragraph and in the next I am in a completely different setting later in the timeline. There were a couple times, I had to go back and reread the paragraph and flip back and forth with the pages to make sure I didn't miss anything.
As far as the plot goes, I really think it could have been a lot less of the not knowing and build up and more character development after they found out who the other was. The fact that they found out so late in the story was really disappointing and felt rushed in the wrap up of the story.
See below for a synopsis of each reading session through the book. I will try to keep details to the minimum for anyone wanting to read the book but just want to see my impressions.
Other books I have read and wrote about:
Of Flames and Fallacies - Courtney Whims
Pages 1-42
First thoughts as I was reading. First is that it's not a terribly long book, about 350 pages. However, the chapters are really long, which is kind of a turn off for me for books. I am on chapter 2 still and on page 42. Chapter 2 doesn't end until page 62.
Secondly, there have been a few times reading that I have been confused with the way the emails between our main characters have been set up. They aren't back-to-back emails in the reading so by the time I get to the reply, I am confused about the reply because I don't remember what the first email said.
This book is supposed to be based of the movie "You've Got Mail". Honestly, I have never seen it but I know the main points of the movie.
But to the actual summary of what I read. So far just the background information, main female character is a current teacher, loves plants and has recently inherited some money from a long-lost family member and is planning on leaving her life to start fresh in Cambric Creek. It was also mentioned that she is a half breed of something and human but was not specific. Being a teacher myself, the frustration and life of a teacher described was pretty spot on. And the student slang/language was perfect!
The FMC is named Sumi and currently is dating a trash boyfriend (of course) and she is pretty much having an emotional affair with a man over email. She has not told her boyfriend about any of her plans to move and start over somewhere else or of course, the guy she has been communicated with over email.
That's about it for what I have read so far.
42-97
Okay, so not ALL the chapters are 30 pages long or more. which really was a relief. I'm not sure if I like this FMC or not. One on hand she is super relatable with wanting to just start fresh somewhere else because everything in your life is just not what you wanted. But on the other hand, she is also not telling anyone but a stranger of her plans, it just seems really selfish and cowardly. She doesn't want the confrontation so just is leaving. Just my opinion.
In these pages, our FMC and MMC meet without knowing they are actually their internet alter egos.
You can tell the FMC is attracted to him and we find out he is naga, half human/half snake. He also has 2 "members". Still curious on how that is going to work really. We will see if my curiosity leads me to finish the book.
The emails are getting more back-to-back so a little easier to keep up with. Our FMC is getting really emotionally involved and in turn is getting physically attracted to him also, even though she has only seen pictures of his hand and arm. She is getting turned on by just knowing what his arm looks like, I find it a little weird.
🌶 While there is not any "spice" yet, there are some explicit thoughts in these pages. Just a heads up.
Pages 97-154
In this 60 pages or so, our main characters meet again in person, still not knowing that they are also meeting with their online personas. They make a tentative date and you can tell they are attracted to each other. We also meet Ranar's (our MMC) daughter, who is about the age that Sumi (our FMC) taught in her previous job. We get a cute email from Ranar about how to communicate with is daughter and her Gen Z/Alpha slang. We also meet the rest of his family and their dynamic. His father has Alzheimer's and is rapidly deteriorating. His sister is a doctor and currently is not much help with his aging parents. We also find out he is 42 years old.
Sumi gets approval to move with her flower business through a third party chain, which happens to be a competitor or Ranar's flower shop. Sumi also gets some advise from the city commissioner that she needs to make sure to get involved fast because she is already at a disadvantage. It doesn't say exactly what her disadvantage is, I am going to guess that it is one of two reasons. 1. Maybe there is a prejudice against Sylvans (the "other" half she is) or 2. She looks human so there is a prejudice about humans. She quickly makes a friend at the community center that also knew her great aunt who recently died and she inherited from.
Towards the end of these pages, Ranar finds out that Sumi is the owner of the competing flower shop and he is stressing that she will put him out of business.
Honestly, this book is at times hard to follow and I am not relating to the characters very well yet. I feel for where both are coming from, but they are not connecting with me. It's not enough yet to not finish the book. I have until out next book meeting to finish on July 11th. So we will see how it goes. At this point, I do think I will be able to finish but I don't think I will have a great rating for it at the moment.
Pages 154 - End
Sumi opens her shop and gets more business than she anticipated. Which in turn takes away business from Ranar and pisses him off even more. Both she and Ranar continue to talk about their troubles to their anonymous usernames about each other (unknowingly of course) and they each give advice that bites them in the butt in real life.
Sumi joins the online forum for business owners and finds some pretty negative insight about her business from others that was instigated by Ranar (but really was her advice to him from her other persona) from there she FINALLY figures out that Ranar is her online crush and friend. This is on page 222 put of 350. I really feel like either one of them could have figured it out from context clues long before this to be honest
After this, Rumi sets out for a truce, and they slowly seem to start to tolerate each other. Sumi starts to gain a positive reputation back in the community also. At this point she sets herself on the idea that she needs Ranar to like her for her physical self because she knows he likes her online self, and that way she can live her happily ever after with him.
Ranar makes it to her opening of her shop to the public so he can gain the communities perception of a good guy supporting the person who may put you out of business.
🌶 Page 280 - 300 -- Ranar and Sumi finally put their feud aside and give in to their attraction to each other.
🌶 Page 315 - 321 - Ranar and Sumi continue their physical relationship.
Page 333 to End -- Ranar finally figures it out. Small verbal fight happens, where Ranar is betrayed that Sumi did not tell her when she figured it out. But he figures out in the same conversation that he cannot live without her. All is forgiven and then it ends.
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