Three out of Five Stars
One sentence summary: While on vacation, Sophie is saved from an attack by French designer royalty- Olivier and if you believe in love at first sight, the rest is history- kinda.
First thought: This book is exactly how Karina Halle advertises it: Insta-love, travel, and like a modern day soap opera. I'm not sure that I ever read an insta-love story and there were parts that I really liked and others that weren't for me.
Why I read it: I seriously love Karina Halle's My Life in Shambles. I was hoping for something as swoony...
POV: First Person Present Tense, Alternating M|F
Setting: France & Spain- Present Day
Tropes: Damsel in Distress, Insta-Love, Vacation Romance, Billionaire Hero
Our Heroine: Sophie. I really like that she's an adventurous student backpacking through Europe. That's super awesome and I'm not sure that I could ever do that myself. What I thought was strange is that after Olivier saved her- she just STAYED with him. Uh girl, don't you know about stranger danger? Maybe this is where I realize I don't love insta-love, but that just seemed strange to me. I think that also goes along with Karina's soap-opera description.
Our Hero: Olivier. I like a good broken hero, but his damage was all wrapped up in a family mystery. I felt sad for him more often than not. I also love a good billionaire hero, but I did not get the insta-love vibes from him that I needed for this vacation romance to work for me. I know that he's guarded, but I guess I wanted to see that guard let down during Sophie and Olivier's solo scenes.
Overall thoughts: This story was okay. I like Karina's writing style, but I think the tropes in book two of the Dumont series are going to be more my style, so I'm looking forward to it!
The sexy scenes: The cover model for this book made Olivier one of the most handsome men I've read this year. I mean.. who is he?!
The best part of the book: Karina Halle's settings are by far my favorite.
Worst part of the book: Insta-love is not my jam, I need to watch my characters really fall in love- not already be there.
TLDR: I love Karina Halle, but these tropes were not for me and that's totally my fault.
How I read it: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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