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review 2019-06-13 10:29
An American-Latina Cinderella story and a whirlwind soap opera
The Perfect Date - Holly L Lorincz,Evelyn Lozada

I thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s (MacMillan) for providing me an early ARC copy of this book that I freely chose to review.

Although I don’t normally look at the reviews of a book in detail before I read it (I do to decide if I’m interested in reading the book or not, but I don’t want to spoil my enjoyment), because I update my current reading on several book sites, I can’t help but see what the general ratings for the book I’m about to start reading look like. Let me tell you I was alarmed when I saw how many 1 star reviews this book had. I was even more concerned because, based on the description, I had agreed to participate in a Blog tour, and I was worried about having made a serious mistake and having to vow out of it. Luckily, I enjoyed the book (yes, it’s far from perfect, but I wasn’t expecting perfection), and I wonder if having read the reviews and getting a clear idea of what had upset other readers didn’t prepare me for what was to come and helped me not go into it with false expectations.

The cover, I think, can make people expect a “sweet” or “cute” romance. Well, that, it is not. The description hints at the personality of Angel (perhaps more accurately than that of Duke, whom many readers didn’t like at all), but readers might have expected a more standard romance, where the romantic side of things is the main story. I agree with the readers who said this novel has a lot of “drama”. Oh, yes, it does. It is like a melodrama on steroids, rough around the edges, and it feels like a fairly extreme soap opera. People wear their hearts (and rage) on their sleeves, they don’t do stiff-upper-lip or measured emotions, and they throw themselves headlong into life. It might be because I’m Spanish and we are supposed to be “red-blooded” (what other colour our blood would be, I have no idea), “passionate”, and “hot tempered” and those attributes (I don’t think they are always helpful, but I refuse to call them defects) are also expected of Latinos in general, and because I’ve watched and enjoyed Central and South-American soap operas, but I did like the oomph of Angel, the main character, even if she was not always consistent (but hey, I’ve never found characters in romantic novels or chick-lit entirely consistent). In some ways, her part of the story has strong elements of women’s fiction, even if the style of writing is different. A young Puerto-Rican woman, a single mother from a young age, she’s had to fight against the odds to try to make a living for herself and her little boy, Jose, who unfortunately suffers from asthma. Working two jobs at the same time, studying all hours to get her nursing qualification, and relying on her friend Gabriela, the hairdresser with a heart of gold (the interaction between the women sometimes made me think of Steel Magnolias and Fried Green Tomatoes, minus the Southern gentility), being subject to a #metoo kind of situation (well, more than one), she is pushed and pulled in all directions but tries to remain strong and keep her moral compass. Yes, she loses her cool every so often, but I cheered her on more than once.

Hers is a Cinderella story, indeed, one in a more soap operatic style than a gentle fairy tale (not that fairy tales are truly gentle), with over the top villains who seem to be villains just because they are (no justification or exploration of the baddies. In olden times, I’m sure one of them would have worn a big moustache he’d twirl, and the other one would have been a proper witch), and where Cinderella is far from the passive and pretty young girl just waiting for the prince to come rescue her (she actually kicks him out more than once). The love interest, Caleb, “The Duke”, has his own Cinderella story, as they share in their humble origins (although he is African-American rather than Puerto-Rican), but he’s now living the aftermath of the Cinderella story, and realising that the people who surround him are not true friends, and money cannot buy the really important things. Many readers say he is not likeable because he thinks only of himself (well, yes, mostly, although he shows concern for Angel’s boy, puts his own career at risk for him, and he is also outraged when he reads about the lack of appropriate asthma treatment for children from diverse ethnic background). We do learn about his circumstances, he is put through the wringer in the novel, and his character bears some resemblance to the rakes readers of Georgian and Victorian literature are so fond of. (Perhaps he lacks some of the charm, but that might be in part because we see him from his own point of view at times, rather than what tends to happens with the rogues, who tend to remain attractive, mysterious and dangerous men, whose motivations we know little about). He helps save the day in the end, and, although he will not rate among my favourite male protagonists, he isn’t the worst either.

The book includes many side-stories —I’ve mentioned the issue of the lack of treatments for Jose, and the novel makes a serious point about the lack of investment in research, by the pharmaceutical companies, of appropriate treatment for diverse populations. Yes, we are not all young white males and our bodies do not respond the same as theirs to the medication; and we also have difficult family relations, grief, sexual harassment, alcohol and drug abuse… — and it is set in the world of sports (baseball), and of celebrity culture. Considering Lozada’s credentials, I am not surprised she has a lot to say on the subject, and the baseball players’ wives (a bit like the footballers’ wives in other countries) interactions rang true. There are comedic moments, although they are far from subtle and some people might not find them funny, but if you let yourself go along for the ride and get into the spirit of it, this is a fun read, touching and inspiring as well.

The book is narrated in the third-person, alternating the points of view of Angel and The Duke. As I said, I read an early ARC copy of the novel, and I noticed readers complained about there not being a clear distinction between the one point of view and the other, but expect this will have been corrected in the final version of the novel, as will, I hope, some awkward Spanish phrasing at the beginning of the book.

Although this is not a standard romantic novel, the ending does live up to the genre (wish-fulfilment and all) and yes, I enjoyed it. If you’re easily offended or are looking for a genteel and/or gentle romance, this is not the book for you. I’d recommend reading through the sample and being prepared for a full-on whirlwind soap, that stretches the limits of credibility (and for some, perhaps, of good taste), and mixes a lot of other genres. If all that doesn’t scare you, give it a go! It will be a wild ride!

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review 2019-04-16 20:59
Not Impressed
The Perfect Date - Holly L Lorincz,Evelyn Lozada

The Perfect Date by Evelyn Lozada is a not so perfect read.  Ms. Lozada has produced a book that might appeal to very young adults, but it doesn't appeal to this mature adult at all.

Angel is an overworked single mom going to school to become a nurse and working two jobs to support her asthmatic son.  Duke is a baseball pitcher that suffered an injury during a shooting at a bar.  Duke is angsty and spineless.  Their story is loaded with drama, ghetto slang, bad decisions and sex.   The story itself I would have probably enjoyed but the writing of it ruined it for me.  I'll be sure to skip any other books by this author.  The Perfect Date is a complete book, not a cliff-hanger.  

 

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

 

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review 2019-03-12 17:14
Sweet Lord, Being Single Is Better Than This...Zero Stars
The Perfect Date - Holly L Lorincz,Evelyn Lozada

Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.


Good lord. I have never read a book in recent memory that was pretty much panned by all of the readers who posted reviews for it. I wish I had looked at Goodreads before applying for this book via NetGalley. I wanted some romance reads and I was thrilled that this book was a romance read with two POC as the romantic leads. I also really loved the cover too. 

 

So pro, this is short, around 280 pages. So I was able to finish this pretty quickly between my screaming at the character of Angel and feeling appalled and repulsed by the character of Duke. 

 

Con, everything else. Let's get to it shall we?

 

So "The Perfect Date" should not even be in the same sentence with other romance reads like "The Wedding Date" and "The Kiss Quotient." Those books were fantastic, and this book just reads as a how many ways can a woman's life be terrible.


Angel Gomez is going through nursing school while bartending trying to provide for her son, Jose. Caleb "The Duke" Lewis, known as Duke throughout this story plays for the Yankees (he's a pitcher) who is still recovering from being shot in the ankle that left one of his team members dead and him dealing with a lot of angst and anger over the incident. These two have a "messed up cute" when Angel is at the clinic dealing with her son who is suffering from an asthma attack and Duke is there trying to keep it hidden that he is seeing a doctor about his ankle. There's some long winded explanations about why Duke doesn't want anyone to know that his ankle is still not doing that great. 


Angel and Duke meet again when she's bartending and he asks if she's a stripper and can he see her [redacted]. I maybe full body shuddered. Angel throws a drink, gets fired, and poor Duke feels bad. Though his agent and friend think she was asking for it due to how she was dressed.

 

Can I also bring up that before all that mess with Angel and Duke meeting again, that Angel walks in on her boss having sex with the hostess and it's graphically explained what is happening and I could feel my insides trying to climb into one another? 

 

There's no development to these characters by the way. The whole way we get to the "romance" portion of the evening made my head hurt. Angel is of course just attracted to Duke though he propositioned her and thought she was a stripper. 

 

I felt sorry for Angel, sorry for her son, and despised Duke and his terrible father. Duke at several points in this romance puts his hands on Angel and I started wishing that the book ended with his death. 

 

Duke's father and that whole plot point just made me sigh. Along with Duke and the plot point with his ex Regina that had me disgusted. 

 

I really wish that this could have just been a more rags to riches romance with a woman learning about being thrust into the celebrity sphere and maybe focusing on the lack of privacy, money, etc. This whole book read very soap operaish at times and not in the good way either. 

 

The writing was not great. 

 

"He was staring at her.

So, she stammered. You are the Duke.

And you are the nurse. Not a stripper.

Ha ha. Very funny."

 

"The music suddenly changed, became louder. His mood lightened.

He was ready to dance, let off some steam and watch Angel move those hips and shake that ass.

Looking at her glistening skin and alert eyes, he suddenly had a strong urge to unpin her hair and run his fingers through it, let her long curls fly around free.

She finer than every woman in here." 

 

"A couple of the women squeezed his popped muscles, oohing and aahing, but Angel simply hoisted her glass at him.

Impressive, she said, her eyebrow arched. 

Oh duke, you must be so excited. It's almost time for you to start playing again, isn't it? one of the younger women asked--the girlfriend of a rookie who was already at spring training.

He turned up the charm. I'm a playa all the time, am I right?

She giggled. I guess. For an old guy.

Ooh, ouch. Kicked me right in the nuts with that one. 

Well, a hot old guy...Does that make you feel better?

Almost as good as if you had that hot little ass pressed against me.

It was like out of a cartoon, the silence that followed. 

He could swear a needle screeched across a vinyl record and a circle of faces whipped from Duke to Angel and back."

 

The flow was not great either. I am assuming that when the final book is published we are going to have some page breaks or paragraph breaks between dialogue. A few times I realized that we had switched over to Duke and we were still not following Angel's POV. That said, the book doesn't move forward much at all. Took to more than the half way point for things to get revealed. 

 

I feel so dirty right now. I should have put up a gif of a thumbs down and been done with this review. 

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review 2012-06-24 00:00
Inner Circle (Wives Association) - Evelyn Lozada,Courtney Parker I read this in a day and a half, only because I wanted to get through it, and thought it would get better. It didn't. The book came across like a stereotypical 'black' movie. There was a lot if neck rolls, rolling of the eyes, threats of beating someone's ass, chiles and bitches. Pretty much what you see Evelyn and Tami doing on BBWs, is what this book is about.The book needs heavy editing, many grammatical mistakes. Some scenes were just too long.If you watched Evelyn on BBWs, consider yourself having read the book.
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