ezichinny's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars.
Malika “Pumpkin” Tavares and her son Seth are dropping off Pumpkin’s s cousin pick up their welfare funds when they run into Armand “Manny” Charmayne, who has a voter’s registration table there. Immediately Pumpkin is mesmerized by Manny’s eyes but her head knows there is no way a guy like Manny could be with her. They come from different sides of the track and she learned the hard way that fairy tale romances are just fantasy.
After an exchange of social views, Manny invited Pumpkin to work on his mayoral campaign and thus began this Cinderella style fairy tale romance.
I liked this book but I didn't love it. I will admit that the names in the beginning were jarring. LaRon, LaRico, LaTom etc. In the beginning, I thought this book was going to be super ghetto and I was cringing. But the message ended up not being about the hood but about finding happiness after getting kicked in the teeth! So it eventually blended in with the author's message.
Pumpkin was a woman who got trained in school of the hard knock life and Pumpkin only depend on herself. She had a very myopic view of those who used social welfare programs like it only created dependence. She was a tad judgmental in that regard but her cousins were poor representatives of responsible citizen. Manny took me a while to like because he was just too perfect. But his optimistic personality turned out to be perfect for Pumpkin’s cynicism.
What I loved about Pumpkin was how she related to her son as it was honest and pure. The supporting cast in this book added flavor but I felt the main characters could have been developed. The writing was flowed and it was a quick read. It just lacked emotional depth for me and so the story was a little flat. I do love happily ever after and this fairy-tale retelling had it. I also the little theme of love and magic thrown in as Manny's family could see the aura of their true love. But fated loves take away from the leap of faith aspect since Manny was assured that this person was the one. I think I would have imagined Manny taking a blind leap of faith more. This book was okay for my first time reading this author. I will check out more from the author in the future.
*Special thanks to Patchwork Press - Cooperative via Netgalley for the reading copy, which was given in exchange for an honest review.
Malika “Pumpkin” Tavares and her son Seth are dropping off Pumpkin’s s cousin pick up their welfare funds when they run into Armand “Manny” Charmayne, who has a voter’s registration table there. Immediately Pumpkin is mesmerized by Manny’s eyes but her head knows there is no way a guy like Manny could be with her. They come from different sides of the track and she learned the hard way that fairy tale romances are just fantasy.
After an exchange of social views, Manny invited Pumpkin to work on his mayoral campaign and thus began this Cinderella style fairy tale romance.
I liked this book but I didn't love it. I will admit that the names in the beginning were jarring. LaRon, LaRico, LaTom etc. In the beginning, I thought this book was going to be super ghetto and I was cringing. But the message ended up not being about the hood but about finding happiness after getting kicked in the teeth! So it eventually blended in with the author's message.
Pumpkin was a woman who got trained in school of the hard knock life and Pumpkin only depend on herself. She had a very myopic view of those who used social welfare programs like it only created dependence. She was a tad judgmental in that regard but her cousins were poor representatives of responsible citizen. Manny took me a while to like because he was just too perfect. But his optimistic personality turned out to be perfect for Pumpkin’s cynicism.
What I loved about Pumpkin was how she related to her son as it was honest and pure. The supporting cast in this book added flavor but I felt the main characters could have been developed. The writing was flowed and it was a quick read. It just lacked emotional depth for me and so the story was a little flat. I do love happily ever after and this fairy-tale retelling had it. I also the little theme of love and magic thrown in as Manny's family could see the aura of their true love. But fated loves take away from the leap of faith aspect since Manny was assured that this person was the one. I think I would have imagined Manny taking a blind leap of faith more. This book was okay for my first time reading this author. I will check out more from the author in the future.
*Special thanks to Patchwork Press - Cooperative via Netgalley for the reading copy, which was given in exchange for an honest review.
ssejig's review against another edition
3.0
I got this book as an ARC last week but it looks like it's already been published. I'm really hoping that the fact that it's in NetGalley means that it's going to be re-released with some better editing. This was a fairly charming story (heh, charm-ing?) but the grammar/spelling mistakes started pulling me out of the plot. I don't mind one or two mistakes, especially in a book that hasn't been released yet but this looks like it's already out. Hopefully the second book (which I can't wait to read) has a better editor (although the fact that Midori refers to "Jimmy Chu's" and "has that affect" in the sneak peek doesn't give me hope.)
Malika "Pumpkin" Tavares has always thought her life was that of a fairy tale. She's a modern-day Cinderella, complete with two evil cousins and an aunt standing in for the traditional "steps."
Manny Charmayne knows that his life is charmed, literally. Descended from a long line of gypsies, it's his destiny to see gold when The One appears. So why is he so attracted to Pumpkin?
To be honest, if this hadn't been an ARC, I would have rated it two stars because of the issues noted above. I also didn't love that Manny hurt his friend Darrell just because Malika was his Twu Lurv. He's supposed to be a good guy; he could've talked to Darrell first.
Malika "Pumpkin" Tavares has always thought her life was that of a fairy tale. She's a modern-day Cinderella, complete with two evil cousins and an aunt standing in for the traditional "steps."
Manny Charmayne knows that his life is charmed, literally. Descended from a long line of gypsies, it's his destiny to see gold when The One appears. So why is he so attracted to Pumpkin?
To be honest, if this hadn't been an ARC, I would have rated it two stars because of the issues noted above. I also didn't love that Manny hurt his friend Darrell just because Malika was his Twu Lurv. He's supposed to be a good guy; he could've talked to Darrell first.
More...