Summary
Carmen Fenton is a waitress at Greyton’s Grill. She is also a student studying to earn a college degree in marketing. Upon graduation, Carmen is seeking an internship at an executive firm where she plans to eventually climb the corporate ladder. Carmen is eager to complete college. She can barely wait to take advantage of the internship program NYU offers. Unaware of the competitive nature of the marketing business, she is ill-prepared for practices that are often high-handed and cut-throat. As she lands the job and begins to learn the business, she encounters an old flame, new friendships, and corporate sabotage. Meanwhile, she has become attracted to Ray Collins, a customer of Greyton’s Grill. She is reluctant to take the relationship seriously as she is career-focused at this point in her life. However, Ray Collins is not only handsome, but persistent. Ray is an architect and lover of the arts and he finds Carmen quite beautiful. Although Carmen finds a mutual attraction to Ray, she wonders if she can handle the demands of work, its related drama, and a new relationship. Carmen is determined to be successful as a marketing executive and mustn’t let anything get in the way of that. However, Ray Collins is determined to make her his own.
Characters
I didn’t like Carmen for the most part. I think the problem was she was trying to be too many things so instead she felt like a blob character. Sometimes she is noble and sometimes she is petty. Other times she is friendly or determined while other times she is wishy washy and whiny. Hard to pin her down. I liked Nina okay (although she disappears for a huge chunk) but Caitlin didn’t feel like much of a friend. She kept throwing Carmen’s ex under her nose while she has clearly stated she liked Ray. What kind of friend keeps doing that? Also head hopping happened throughout the book. It kinda worked because of the writing style feeling more narrative than story.
Plot
I believe this is supposed to be a romance. I was very hesitant on the romantic aspects. In what world would a woman want to be called ‘young woman’ by her love interest? It totally threw me and BOTH men do it. Um…what? It made me wonder how old Ray is…like way older? However, Ray is mostly very much a gentleman and even though her ex is in the picture she mostly keeps him at a distance so the love triangle is luckily minimal.
It was interesting because the author clearly knew a lot about marketing and researched it thoroughly. I was impressed by the information that just seemed very natural. However, the college classes sounded more like high school and I’ve never heard of a restaurant who lets servers have weekends off. I know multiple people who worked at them (including myself) during college and you always had to work at least one weekend day but most did both because classes were during the week. Those little nonsensical pieces undermined the overall plot because they pulled me out of the story.
Overall
This book doesn’t read like a traditional book – it reminds me more of a play or movie script. Although I appreciated the brevity and consistent flow it was almost robotic at times. Very much all telling and zero showing. I also was a little unsure about many of the scenes and scenarios. The timeline also wasn’t clear. However, I honestly didn’t know what was going to happen next. There was some suspense that made me wonder what was going to happen next. I just wished it was more fleshed out. Also after all that build up there is a rush at the end.
Rating
2.5 stars (rounded up)
I was very split on this book (right down the middle). There were great aspects to it but just as many things that drug it down.
Where did I get it?
The author provided me a copy. This is a voluntary review
