Name: The Love Scam
ISBN: 9781250053169

MaryJanice Davidson

The Love Scam

Sarah Williams

Okay, so I technically did finish this book but I’m still giving it 1 star, maybe 1.5 stars at the most. 

I generally save 1 star for books I can’t finish but I wanted to put this book down every 20 or so pages but it just got to a point where I felt like I had gone so far, I needed to persevere.

Maybe I just missed something? Maybe it went over my head? I couldn’t connect at all and found most of the story to be nonsensical, rushed, and awkward. I really wanted to like this—it looked so cute! But I think this just wasn’t a good fit for me.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. This has not impacted or influenced my review or my opinions.

Ashlee

This story has so much potential, unfortunately it was greatly hindered by the writing style employed.

The writing reads much like a stream of consciousness – which can be used with great results – unfortunately I would argue that isn’t the best approach to take with a narrative piece such as a romantic comedy. The story was further rendered clunky and confusing by the POV shifts, which at times had no clear indication of who was narrating.

If anything, I related to Rake’s confusion of just how he ends up in Venice, because I was confused most of the time as well! The descriptions are vague, the story leans heavily into the preposterous and I found it difficult to follow. Several times, I had to reread paragraphs just to get a grasp on what was going on. Honestly, I feel as though oddly pretentious epigraph and index should have been a warning for what was coming in this story.

Lastly, I just couldn’t sympathize with Rake’s woe-is-me obsession with his brother. He’s white, he’s male and he’s rich, but feels overshadowed by his brother? Cry me a river.