Review: Like You Read About by Mela Remington

Synopsis

What if your soul mate has been sitting across from you at a conference room table for the last two years?

Cora O'Malley is a shy accountant for a small pharmaceutical company in the Boston area. After years of being single, struggling with her self image and self confidence she finds out that the IT guy she's been crushing on is single and also looking for possibilities.

Cora decides to take life by the email and see if she and Daniel Santagata, the IT man have anything in common, if there really are sparks between them...

Witty email banter, fumbling new relationships, bossy best friends, New England weather... how can anything but mayhem ensue?




4 Star Review by Guest Reviewer Allison East

You know that feeling you get when you read a romance novel, and there is no angst, no cliffhanger, and just an all-around good story? Yeah, I don't get it very often either! With Like You Read About, Mela captured that essence for me. Finally, I don't have to wonder where a love story is going to go, how long I am going to have to wait to find out what happens in the end, and if there will be any surprises along the way.

Cora O' Malley is a shy, hard-working accountant for a pharmaceutical company around Boston. She has a hard time dealing with her self image, considering she used to be a lot heavier- but after some soul searching and a not so nice man- she decides enough is enough and loses a lot of weight. She has had her eye on a certain IT guy, whom she sees once a month at their companywide meetings. She doesn't know if he is single and she has played it cool for TWO YEARS. I would go crazy with want if I sat around for two years making googly eyes at a catch of a man for that long!

Daniel Santagata- I mean hubba hubba. Where can I get one? He seems like the dream guy Cora is waiting for. Only he has been burned in the past by a co-worker so he doesn't want to start anything with someone else. But little does he know about Cora's crush- although he is about to find out.

I loved this story from beginning to end. The way they spoke to each other over emails, getting to know each other, and playing twenty questions, was a really sharp way to keep people interested. I love how they were both really nervous to make the first move. I wanted to tell Dan a few times to man up and just do it already. Then he finally got it together.

Dan was a great guy. He gave Cora courage; to be herself. She grew as a character exponentially after they started their relationship. She seemed more confident and in control of her life and situations surrounding her. Understandably, she was nervous to meet his family- but she handled herself well.

I could relate to Cora a lot, having weight problems and being able to share that with someone; especially a crush- is hard. Dan did a fantastic job of making her feel comfortable about it.

There was also very witty banter and jokes- and I found myself laughing out loud during certain parts of the story. This is a very good debut novel from Mela, I look forward to reading another book by her!

I can't wait for more people to read this so I can talk about it with them. I even loved the secondary characters, the best friends!

Great enjoyable, fun read! Kudos to you Mela!