Should be simple enough if he put his mind to it. A little creativity and some thinking outside of the box, and voila, he’d be married to the woman of his dreams.
It would be perfect.
And it would be before his visa ran out.
But why are his feelings running wild now that the pressure’s on? Why is his picture-perfect plan turning into a muddled mess of morphed metaphors he can’t make sense of anymore?
Just as well he’s met an English professor to help. And even though their first meet is anything but cute, this down-to-earth teacher may just be the realist Zane needs to ground him and give him a shot at love after all.
Comment: This is the fourth installment in the Signs of Love series by author Anyta Sunday. I liked the previous installments so I'm going to keep reading the series as long as it gets published.
Once again, the author picked her favorite type of story, a slow burn one, and presented two characters that might not seem the best match but ed up finding a lot in common...
In this story we meet Zane as the focus protagonist and narrator, meaning that although this is written in third voice, we only get to follow the story through the eyes of one of the characters.
Zane is from New Zealand and is in America because his brother married and just had a baby, whom Zane is hoping to visit before his visa runs out. The thing is, Zane feels very alone back in New Zealand and he still struggles to feel others like him despite his obvious deficiencies in learning. He wants to be close to his brother, someone who has always showed Zane what it's like to have a support system and someone who truly cares.
When the story begins, Zane is being told he needs to leave the room where he's been staying in because it will be necessary for someone else. Zane ends up on the street with nowhere to go since his brother lives in a ranch at some distance. On the phone, Zane's sister-in-law mentions Becky as possible helper and Zane text messages this Becky to see if there is room available. What a surprise for Zane to discover Becky is a diminutive for Beckett but he is still determined to be the best possible roommate so he can have the time to find love and stay in America...
This was a cute story. I liked Zane and how vulnerable he seemed to be (through hints here and there) but he never let what he assumed were his deficiencies stop him from being kind, helpful and even more, hopeful he would find someone he could love and who would love him back. Although he talks about girls from page one, his slow developing friendship with Beckett and also how she starts to feel attracted to him without being aware were situations I could be convinced of being realistic.
In fact, putting aside some coincidences (like Beckett's ex being in the same store at the exact same time just because Beckett thought he might.. can only be plot suiting) explored in the novel, pretty much everything felt it could be genuine and realistic somehow.
I loved how both characters felt shy over what they assumed to be issues, things clearly out of their control but which every human person would potentially feel (we all have stuff we feel vulnerable for, even if rationally we can know we wouldn't have to) as being a negative aspect of their personality.
Zane is super friendly and dedicated to what he feels is the best path for him: to find true love. He dates some women who are an obvious "tool" to show how people would see Zane only for his good looks but ignoring he might have deeper wishes than just random sex by app dating. Only by having a more profound connection with Beckett, initially a friend/roommate, did he realize you don't need a cliché to find what you really need and the end of the novel was more realistic than what I imagined it would, just expecting a romance from the start.
Beckett, I felt, was a bit more obvious. While we inferred some of Zane's self esteem issues by how he reacted to this or that, we can immediately tell Beckett feels somewhat unworthy because of how he and his ex divorced. I can also see how easy it was for Beckett to feel confused over Zane's initial behavior towards him (a little clueless but funny) but he still kept his more serious personality in check, hoping but not acting on something he wasn't certain of. I could totally understand Beckett's personality and expectations. I probably would act as cautious as him were I in the same type of situation. This means the romance is a slow burn and it's convincing it has to be so.
I'd say my biggest issue is that from the moment Zane's feels attracted to Beckett, things progress very smoothly and very quickly in the intimacy department but I wasn't completely convinced Zane was really interested in Beckett for those reasons. I could see he was in love but for a man who had never been attracted to guys suddenly feel so comfortable with one to the point of sexual intimacy, without even being aware he could have bisexual inclinations... I mean, I can accept the notion of being attracted to the person and not the gender but... it still feels a little unlikely.
Nevertheless, I think this was a successful story. I was captivated by every little step and action the characters tool, I liked how there were serious matters in play but not in a way that would steal the attention from the story. It was more like one being able to read between the lines.
I'm hoping the author continues this signs series for there are yet four zodiac signs to go.
Grade: 8/10
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