I love when an author adds a bit of humor to a story. It's great for breaking the tension and when I run across a romantic comedy, I'm always game. Let me elaborate on what I mean by comedy. I don't like gimmicks or slapstick. I may be in the minority, but, in my humble opinion, comedy works best when it comes out of nowhere and catches you by surprise, creating a laugh out loud moment. Admittedly, I haven't found many books lately that have that quality. A few chuckles in a book does not make it a comedy. With that in mind, I read The Dating Bender, the debut novel by Christina Julian.
Momma Says: 2 out 5 stars ⭐⭐
The Dating Bender is well-written, grammatically, in first person POV. The story is told from the perspective of main character, Samantha and is touted as Chick Lit/Romantic Comedy, although I found little to laugh about. It does have its steamy moments and with all the drinking and adult situations, I would recommend 18+ readers.
Why am I here,
exactly? Let’s see…
It started with my
parents telling me to get married. Of course, being the good Catholic girl I
am, I did.
Needless to say,
that marriage nosedived, and my parents weren’t exactly happy about it.
Newly ditched and
shamefully disowned, I decided to follow the advice of Babs, a
tart-of-a-mentor, who offered me a job in Colorado.
Her advice? Sex…and
lots of it.
The temptation of
freedom, to do whatever—whoever—I wanted was too damn strong for me to say no.
And that’s how it
all started. The men, the sex, the journey…
The dating bender.
Because everybody
deserves a do-over.
I love a good romantic comedy and I had high hopes for this one, but it fell flat for me. I didn't find Samantha at all likable. She has loads of Catholic guilt, but that doesn't prevent her from sleeping with someone else while she's still married, or from sleeping with a married man. Cheating in fiction doesn't offend me, it is fiction, after all, but the actions just don't work with her guilt. Between the bed hopping, drinking, and inability to control her gag reflex, she's also indecisive and seems to always be looking for something or someone better. The only person I had any empathy for in this story was Sheldon, Samantha's hapless husband. I get that he was out of touch with the marriage, but he did at least explain himself. The author falls back on slapstick and repetition a lot more than I cared for and in my opinion, vomiting just isn't funny past a certain age. There are also a lot of time jumps, making the story choppy. From reading the blurb, I felt like the story had great potential, but everything considered, it wasn't for me and I don't think I'll be reading future books from this author.
I love a good romantic comedy and I had high hopes for this one, but it fell flat for me. I didn't find Samantha at all likable. She has loads of Catholic guilt, but that doesn't prevent her from sleeping with someone else while she's still married, or from sleeping with a married man. Cheating in fiction doesn't offend me, it is fiction, after all, but the actions just don't work with her guilt. Between the bed hopping, drinking, and inability to control her gag reflex, she's also indecisive and seems to always be looking for something or someone better. The only person I had any empathy for in this story was Sheldon, Samantha's hapless husband. I get that he was out of touch with the marriage, but he did at least explain himself. The author falls back on slapstick and repetition a lot more than I cared for and in my opinion, vomiting just isn't funny past a certain age. There are also a lot of time jumps, making the story choppy. From reading the blurb, I felt like the story had great potential, but everything considered, it wasn't for me and I don't think I'll be reading future books from this author.
Purchase Links
Also available in Kindle Unlimited
Thanks for joining me!
Momma 😘
No comments:
Post a Comment