Book Reviews: TLC by @barbaradelinsky & A Perfect Stranger by Danielle Steele ~ Campin' Reads!

TLC by Barbara Delinsky was an impulse buy when I bought The Stud. One of the best impulse buys ever. I really liked it a lot!

Yes it's a romance novel, but I loved the underlying story. The dynamic, the love-hate relationship between Karen and the male protag, Brice, is quite fun. It has it's emotional parts along with the fun snark and witty banter. You guys know how I love my snark and wit!

TLC is a story about a girl named Karen who is a grad student. We begin the story with her visiting an elderly woman in an assisted living home. At first the assumption is it's a family member but we soon find out that Karen is a woman riddled with guilt and taxing herself so much she falls very, very ill. In walks Dr. Brice... he's cocky, rude, self-righteous, and anti-social.

And it's on! :)

A Perfect Stranger is another Danielle Steele novel. I say it that way because... well, it's just another novel. I didn't fall in love with either of the characters. I felt awfully for Alex the entire length of the story. Raphaella is beaatiful and kind and practically perfect in every way... there are times when your heart jerks for her and you wanna take her home and keep her safe, but then again, there are some times when you just wanna smack the crap out of her! Who at 32 years old would let their father say those things to them? Or let their mother boss them atround in that way??? It's just insane.

The premise was good... lovely girl trapped in a marriage that her family wanted her in, she was swept away at 18 years old, and you just can't handle things when you're super young and overly sheltered. It makes sense she'd go off and marry the guy even if he was 44 years older, I can buy that.

But I was overwhelmed by the first 20 pages of Alex complaining that his wife of two years left him and then we hear more of Raphaela has been practically imprisoned her entire life by the life of luxury and riches and body guards and chauffeurs. It was kind of disconcerting to say the least! Their romance is a lovely one even if it's fraught with drama and angst... although, by the third or fourth ( I lost count ) reconciliation, I was a little over it.Also, there was entirely too much clothing description. It was hard to believe that Alex, a 30-something lawyer would care that his girlfriend is wearing snake skin shoes from Gucci. Even if he lives in San Fran! :)

The ending was sweet, but again, it was lacking. I really wanted more. It was just kind of like, "Okay, and now we're done." And after the huge intro of angsty stuff in the beginning, I really wanted more to go on at  the end.

It wasn't a bad story, but it was a little long for the amount of story you get. I gave it 2.5 stars.