ARC REVIEW: Courting Mrs McCarthy by Ian Thomas Malone
I received this book on a Friday evening (the best time to recieve an ARC), and I was really excited. To my knowledge, I've not read a romance novel written by a man before so this was new for me and I was a bit apprehensive, but I figured my reasoning was probably a bit sexist so I powered on and tried to ignore that fact while reading.
It took me a very long time to get into this book. The main character, Nathan, is a very different, quirky, 17 year boy. He likes to go to the opera, plays, theatre, fancy restaurants and enjoys eating lobster and sword fish. He doesn't work because his father keeps him fueled with money, which is his way of showing love.
From the tone of the narrator, Nathan comes across as quite a practical teenager, he seems very aware that he is too young to be in love but he takes his 3 month long relationship with Sarah more seriously than I expected. It confused me a bit, I expected him not to really care that they had ended but she pops up several times throughout the book as though the relationship really meant something to him, even though it was only 3 months and he said he didn't love her.
This was also what confused me about the affair he has with Jackie (Mrs McCarthy). I would expect a strong, whirlwind of emotions to come over Nathan for him to end up embarking on an affair but I didn't really get the feeling it was a love at first sight thing. There was none of this 'I tried to resist you but my feelings are too strong' stuff, more just attraction and curiousity. I would have liked to hear the point of view of Jackie but the whole story is from Nathans side. Her attraction to him seems a bit random and I mostly just figured she was lonely. I didn't see the tag line reflected in the book. Neither of them seem to have or declare strong feelings of love, instead it's more a story of something that happened between two people who like each other.
This is probably fine for a lot of people, but I like my romance novels to be intense and sexy, I like to feel like I want to have the man and be the woman. But I didn't really like Nathan that much, I didn't find him an attractive lead and I didn't really have any feelings towards Jackie. She just seemed co-dependant and lonely, I didn't feel like I got a chance to actually know her. I had no sympathy for either of them, usually I'd be rooting for them one way or the other.
I found it took until about chapter 7 for anything exciting to happen. There was a lot of weed mentioned which was a bit of a turn off for me, I could have done with a lot less pot and a lot more passion. The kicker for me was when Jackie and Nathan first kiss and all you get is 'They kissed.', I wanted details! However, what I did get details about was how Nathan would only wear sunglasses out when he and Jackie were comfortable enough together that she would carry the case in her purse. This was just completely irrelevant to me and I thought there were too many pointless details, where I would have preferred more details about their relationship.
When I finished the book I didn't really know what relationship they actually had. You didn't really hear much about them talking or laughing together, it went from not a lot, to having sex rather quickly. I think in the whole book they must kiss four times perhaps, have sex twice and hug awkwardly a few times. I didn't feel that the foundations of the relationship had been laid which meant their relationship didn't seem very passionate to me. (Maybe I was more aware of this after reading Affairytale?)
I think this was well written and is a good book, but just not what I expected. I don't like weed and I like raunch and love, so for me, it lacked what I like most in a romance novel. Saying that, if you don't like to have your cheeks flush or your heart race when you read a book and you like them witty and well written then this is probably up your street. I just need a bit more raunch. ;-)
