Heart wrenching quick read with a mystical twist. Bit of a slow burn and .maybe not everyones cup of tea. Thank you netgalley for the advance copy

I'm an absolute sucker for magical realism so this was an immediate request for me, plus the cover is just gorgeous! There was a lot of depth to this book and it really did tug at the heart strings, however I do feel that some parts did fall flat for me and I did struggle to really connect with the romance between our two main characters. That all being said, it was still a beautiful concept.

This beautiful cover attracted me to this book it is absolutely stunning. The story itself is enjoyable.

I immediately clicked on this one after reading the synopsis and seeing the gorgeous cover. I'm a sucker for magical realism but unfortunately this one fell short for me and i just found it lacking. It's well written so this is a me problem, we just didn't click

3.75🌟
I thought this would be a nice, calm, fun romcom but actually it was quite a heartwrenching and thought provoking read with a strong theme of death and reflection. Claire is a workaholic who doesn't know how to have fun or lose control and Matías who is the opposite of her in every way.

Spoiler alert:
Once the whole thing with seeing a spirit started, I almost DNF it but decided to keep going. I enjoyed it in the end though it did make me a bit emotional at times.

✨3 stars✨

The premise of this one sounded really interesting, especially the magical realism element. However, I felt certain things let this one down a bit…

Firstly, the choice to have different characters’ perspectives for chapters instead of solely focusing on the main couple. I didn’t feel like this added anything to the plot and the choice of which characters got chapters felt somewhat sporadic. For example, the MMC’s brother Luis and sister Aracerly both only had one chapter each fairly early into the book and then no more. And the content of their chapters didn’t add anything to the plot. This happened with other characters that meant whenever we’re in the flow of the main couple’s story, we’d be dragged out to be told something that didn’t really matter in my opinion.

Second, due to the fact that the MMC was in a coma until the last few pages, I found it difficult to feel connected to either of them and their love for each other.

Third, adding to that last point but the ending just felt really rushed for me. I wished we would have seen more of Claire and Matias when he was awake at the end!

Overall though it was a quick, easy read that was a good palate cleanser between more world-building heavy books.

I would recommend to people who enjoy magical realism and are looking for a quick read.

I received an ARC for this book from the publishers via NetGalley. Thank you!

1 STAR.

Despite the super gorgeous cover art which is one of the parts that initially drew me in to this book… it’s unfortunately a DNF for me. Full review on Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6718114721

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for this ARC.

This is an opposites attract story between Claire, an ambitious American lawyer and Matías, a freewheeling Spanish artist who has moved to New York.

Eleven months after they met Matías returns to Madrid to holiday with his extended family. Workaholic Claire is in the middle of a huge merger and can't accompany him even though she knows he wants to ask her to marry him there. She isn't at all sure about this because they have so little in common and she thinks it won't last.

Then Matías gets into a terrible speedboat accident and ends up in a coma. Claire abandons her high-flying job and races to Madrid but he is in a bad state and getting worse.

Now something weird happens - Matías appears to her in bodily form but he doesn't remember her because his soul thinks it's a year ago. Yes, I know.

The story had me intrigued but while I have nothing against magical realism per se, I draw the line at paranormal pseudo science, which is what astral projection, i.e. out of body experience is.

Also, is there really a need for that many POVs and flashbacks? Claire's story in a linear fashion would have been great, instead we get Matías (fair enough), plus his parents and his abuela in some utterly superfluous vignettes. Why do we need their first meeting told twice? It is exactly the same story whoever tells it. Also, giving us a detailed flashback of the speedboat accident we already knew about at the end of the book makes no sense whatsoever.

At least I learnt that my passive knowledge of Spanish is really quite good - I understood most of what they said although I was glad it was repeated in English. I liked that Claire desperately tries to improve her Spanish fast so she can communicate with everyone.

I did like Matías' family and the many descriptions of food and art in both locations. I also liked that neither Claire nor Matías are perfect. They both have annoying habits and character traits but they kind of balance each other out. The problem I had with their love story is that there is a lot of tell instead of show - they love each other but I couldn't figure out why exactly because there was no build-up.

I did however like the soul-searching (literally), where Claire tries to make Matías fall in love with her again to get him to wake up, then figuring out it's her attitude that needs changing. The book is well-written and, as emotional journeys go, convincing. A nice beach read for people who love big feelings in a Spanish setting.

3.75 stars

Thank you Headline and Netgalley for my ARC copy.

3.5 Stars ⭐️
I really loved the sound of this book when I first read the Blurb for it, However there was just something about it that I struggled with. It was still a very good book but I wish we had got more of their actual relationship and not just snippets here and there.

I would still recommend this book to people as its a quick and easy read