Love, in English: Karina Halle

Most of the books I read are new publications.  The challenge with the new reviews, I find, is that the ARC reviews tend to be mainly 5 stars.  I don't know if people who get routinely get ARCs are just very agreeable people who effusively rave about books or if they feel obliged to say positive things, but I often end up feeling like I've read a different book from the reviewed one.  After feeling ho-hum about some of the recent books I've read, I searched around on some blogs for something a bit older that has strong reviews.  That is how I found Love, in English.  

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Blurb:

He’s thirty-eight. I’m twenty-three.

He speaks Spanish. I speak English.

He lives in Spain. I live in Canada.

He dresses in thousand-dollar suits. I’m covered in tattoos.

He’s married and has a five-year old daughter.

I’m single and can’t commit to anyone or anything.

Until now. Because when they say you can’t choose who you fall in love with, boy ain’t that the f*#king truth.

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To a restless dreamer like Vera Miles, it sounded like the experience of a lifetime. Instead of spending her summer interning for her astronomy major, she would fly to Spain where she’d spend a few weeks teaching conversational English to businessmen and women, all while enjoying free room and board at an isolated resort. But while Vera expected to get a tan, meet new people and stuff herself with wine and paella, she never expected to fall in love.

Mateo Casalles is unlike anyone Vera has ever known, let alone anyone she’s usually attracted to. While Vera is a pierced and tatted free spirit with a love for music and freedom, Mateo is a successful businessman from Madrid, all sharp suits and cocky Latino charm. Yet, as the weeks go on, the two grow increasingly close and their relationship changes from purely platonic to something.

Something that makes Vera feel alive for the first time.

Something that can never, ever be.

Or so she thinks. 

Review: 5 Stars

I loved this book!  First, I loved the whole premise of going to teach English in exchange for all expenses paid in Spain.  I spent a couple of months teaching English in Winnipeg. The weather was shit and the students were young (i.e., 'first time being away from home' kind of young).  I should have opted for something overseas instead.  

Second, the heartache of falling for someone in such a complicated situation made my heart hurt.  The age difference, the geographical distance, Mateo's marital status, Vera's stage in life, the list goes on....

On the one hand, I wanted to see Vera and Mateo together.  On the other hand, them getting together would be straight up infidelity, I don't care how miserable a marriage.  If you want to be with someone else enough to pursue it, end the marriage.  

I had hoped to get more of Mateo's POV because Vera's lack of self confidence didn't really allow her to present herself as a desirable person.  So, I didn't really understand what Mateo saw in her.  I also wanted to know how he felt when they first met and how that developed over their time at the school. There is a follow up book, Love, in Spanish, which is written from Mateo's POV.  Interestingly, it is more about what happens after Love, in English.