Review: More Than Words (by Jill Santopolo)

 My rating: 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 stars

I decided to read this book because I had read this author Jill Santopolo’s earlier novel The Light We Lost back in 2017 and liked the story well enough, even though with that book, the characters didn’t work for me and the emotional aspect was lacking – however, even with a few issues, there had been a twist to that story and the dialogue was meaningful enough that it almost made up for some of its flaws.  In other words, I was still able to enjoy that book to some extent, even though it wasn’t a genre that I’m particularly keen on (contemporary romance).  Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about Santopolo’s second book More Than Words, which publishes next month (on February 5th).  While I would say that, just like her debut, this book was also well-written and definitely readable, one huge difference was that this time around, the story itself lacked depth – the impression I got after finishing this book was that the story was too superficial and clichéd, the plot so predictable and formulaic that about halfway through, I felt like I didn’t have to finish the book and I would still know exactly how the second half would play out (I finished the book anyway and yes, the rest of the story matched almost exactly with what I had predicted).  In addition, many of the same issues that I felt had plagued the first book (and therefore made it an average read for me) also existed in this one as well – namely, the lack of emotional depth, especially as it relates to the main characters.  In this case, the main character is Nina Gregory, the young heiress to a hotel chain who finds herself at a crossroads when her beloved father dies and she not only has to deal with her grief while preparing to take over the family business, she also has to struggle with the realization that the life she had been living was perhaps not the one she was meant to live.  Since this is a romance novel after all, Nina’s “struggle” also involves having to choose between two men she truly loves. 

I honestly was not able to connect with Nina at all for some reason – with all the “struggles” she goes through, I know I’m supposed to sympathize with her or whatnot but I actually didn’t feel anything, even during the supposed “emotional” scenes where I’m expected to feel for her.  Perhaps it’s the way the character was written, but she just felt very one-dimensional to me, almost like her character was merely “going through the motions” with everything instead of being a character that comes alive with heart and soul.

The writing as it pertained to bringing the story together as a whole also left much to be desired.  With Santopolo’s previous novel, even though it had also lacked emotional depth, at least the story was written in a way that some of the dialogue gave me food for thought and made me ponder a few things (albeit not too deeply)….with this one on the other hand, I felt nothing at all.  Even right after finishing the book, I had difficulty recalling much about the story or the characters, which is not a good sign, as it usually means the book is forgettable.

In a way, I do feel that part of the problem is with me in that, as I mentioned earlier, contemporary romance is not a genre that I prefer and though I hate to say it, there is a certain amount of preconceived bias on my part that these types of books usually lack depth, so in a way, the author (through the book) has to work harder to convince me otherwise.  Unfortunately, this book didn’t succeed in swaying me.  With that said, there were many who liked this book quite a bit so I would suggest checking out those reviews.  One thing I do feel I should mention though, in case this matters to those deciding whether to give this book a try – there were a handful of mildly graphic sex scenes in the book that I personally felt were unnecessary in terms of the amount of detail used to depict the physical interactions between the characters…for me, it wasn’t too big of a deal but others may be bothered by it. 

Overall, this was an okay read for me – quick and easy to get through but if I had to choose, I would prefer this author’s previous novel slightly more.

Received ARC from G.P. Putnam’s Sons via Edelweiss

Review: The Light We Lost (by Jill Santopolo)

My Rating:  3.5 stars


Let me start off by saying that I have never been a fan of contemporary romance novels.  Nothing against the genre per se, it’s just that I prefer stories with more depth to them and unfortunately, a lot of the books I’ve read that fall into this specific category are typically lacking in this area.  While I would consider The Light We Lost as one of the better-written contemporary romance books I’ve read, it still didn’t quite hit the mark for me, especially from an emotional perspective.  In reading the reviews, I know a lot of people loved this book and found it to be a heartbreakingly romantic and moving love story, which I guess it was to some extent depending on how you look at it, but to be honest, I didn’t really feel it.  

The story started off well and in the beginning, I truly was moved by the special bond and love that the central couple Lucy and Gabe shared, but as the story progressed, I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated with the direction things were going, especially with the main character Lucy.  It was hard for me to understand Lucy’s thought process at times and some of the actions she took as well as reactions she had to things that happened actually frustrated me to no end.  While I didn’t really like Lucy all that much, I do appreciate the author’s attempts to make her character realistic in that, like all human beings, Lucy is not perfect – she makes mistakes (big ones as well as minor) and bad choices that of course have devastating consequences and have the potential to ruin the good life that she had worked so hard to build.  In this regard, even though I disagreed with a lot of Lucy’s actions, there were some parts where I was truly able to empathize with her.

One of the things that I found disappointing with this book was the lack of character development outside of Lucy.  She was pretty much the only character in the book who was fully developed – everyone else was essentially one-dimensional.  I’m assuming this has to do with the way the story was structured in that the entire narrative was told from the first person point-of-view, with Lucy “talking”’ to Gabe and essentially recounting her perspective of their story from the day the two of them first met.  This “spin” on the first-person narrative is indeed unique, but I also felt it kind of backfired in that I was basically able to guess the ending early on, barely a few chapters into the story.  Perhaps this is one of the reasons why I was not able to relate to the story as much on an emotional level.   

The summary hints at similarities to Me Before You in terms of romantic, “tug at your heartstrings” love story, but to me, both books were at different levels.  Me Before You had way more emotional depth – that book made me laugh but also made me cry, the ending especially.  This one didn’t have the same emotional pull – or perhaps it was just lost on me. 

Overall, I would say that this was a good book, just not my type of book.  It’s definitely well-written and as far as contemporary romances go, this one deserves to be near the top of the list in that genre.  Some of the dialogue was meaningful and the message about the consequences of choice definitely rings loud and clear. 

Received advance reader’s copy from G.P. Putnam via Penguin First To Read program.

Read in April 2017