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A review by cschaepe84
Love Is an Art by Kathy Strobos
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
Oooooh, this was cute.
Initially, I had a little harder time getting into the story due to Tessa and Zeke discussing some jargon about their jobs, which is necessary, I get it for the authenticity of the characters and their world, but it kinda made me lose interest at times. Perhaps workplace romance really isn't for me. And then there was all the details about New York that I somehow had trouble seeing in my head, as if only if you lived in New York would you understand it.
Nevertheless, the plot was relatively original, and the story took many turns that I did not expect.
So, we start off with Tessa and Zeke meeting at an art gallery where Tessa is posing as an artist in order to bait a Jurgen, a possible scam artist, as a way to help her friend's friend. At the opening, she notices a hot guy, and begins to flirt with him while she's also trying to stay undercover to rope in the scammer guy. Well, the consequence of this is, in order to keep up pretenses to draw in the scammer guy, she ends up lying to Zeke too that she is indeed, and artist, and Zeke takes the bait. This was fine for a little while, and she never meant to deceive Zeke, until he reveals to her that he HATES lawyers because his ex was a lawyer who cheated on him.
And thus begins the deception.
However, this is only a small part of the story, as the plot becomes more complex than this.
Zeke and Tessa a each fleshed out very well in this story. You look into their worlds separately and see how they collide together. Relationship-wise, each one as a lot of baggage, especially where trust is involved. Although well-before the half-way mark of the book, the jig is up and Tessa reveals that she is indeed a lawyer, something Zeke hated, this is where the REAL story begins, and this is where they truly fall in love and get to know each other.
I really loved it when Zeke decides to tag along with Tessa to be involved in her sleuthing once he sees her in action during one of his own problems that could hurt his career. This is the part where the book truly starts to shine, and where they learn to work together and trust. Even though here, they have broken up, the spark is still there, and Tessa tries to win Zeke back. It works, but the baggage each one carries remains, and they learn to overcome their issues to get back together.
Again, this did lose one star because at times the book dragged, especially when getting into their jobs, but I understand why it was necessary, and only goes to show workplace romance is not for me, as I've had problems with another book like this before. Nevertheless, this book got exciting, and took a turn I didn't see coming, especially at the end where the entire story comes around full circle. I was cheering Tessa and Zeke to the very end.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Initially, I had a little harder time getting into the story due to Tessa and Zeke discussing some jargon about their jobs, which is necessary, I get it for the authenticity of the characters and their world, but it kinda made me lose interest at times. Perhaps workplace romance really isn't for me. And then there was all the details about New York that I somehow had trouble seeing in my head, as if only if you lived in New York would you understand it.
Nevertheless, the plot was relatively original, and the story took many turns that I did not expect.
So, we start off with Tessa and Zeke meeting at an art gallery where Tessa is posing as an artist in order to bait a Jurgen, a possible scam artist, as a way to help her friend's friend. At the opening, she notices a hot guy, and begins to flirt with him while she's also trying to stay undercover to rope in the scammer guy. Well, the consequence of this is, in order to keep up pretenses to draw in the scammer guy, she ends up lying to Zeke too that she is indeed, and artist, and Zeke takes the bait. This was fine for a little while, and she never meant to deceive Zeke, until he reveals to her that he HATES lawyers because his ex was a lawyer who cheated on him.
And thus begins the deception.
However, this is only a small part of the story, as the plot becomes more complex than this.
Zeke and Tessa a each fleshed out very well in this story. You look into their worlds separately and see how they collide together. Relationship-wise, each one as a lot of baggage, especially where trust is involved. Although well-before the half-way mark of the book, the jig is up and Tessa reveals that she is indeed a lawyer, something Zeke hated, this is where the REAL story begins, and this is where they truly fall in love and get to know each other.
I really loved it when Zeke decides to tag along with Tessa to be involved in her sleuthing once he sees her in action during one of his own problems that could hurt his career. This is the part where the book truly starts to shine, and where they learn to work together and trust. Even though here, they have broken up, the spark is still there, and Tessa tries to win Zeke back. It works, but the baggage each one carries remains, and they learn to overcome their issues to get back together.
Again, this did lose one star because at times the book dragged, especially when getting into their jobs, but I understand why it was necessary, and only goes to show workplace romance is not for me, as I've had problems with another book like this before. Nevertheless, this book got exciting, and took a turn I didn't see coming, especially at the end where the entire story comes around full circle. I was cheering Tessa and Zeke to the very end.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.