The question that 23-year old Amalia Hastings desperately wants the answer to is: What happens to men when they move to Manhattan? Life in the new city gives Amalia a ride she is not expecting. As she tries to find her way on the little island that never sleeps, she discovers she has a harder time navigating through love then she does the streets of Greenwich Village and finds herself truly lost in the complex world of men. “I just want you to be happy” is one of Amalia’s least favorite phrases in the English language. She thought she had everything she needed to be so-called “happy” – a gorgeous apartment in Manhattan, a top-notch education at NYU, a group of trusted friends and Nicholas, a boyfriend who she believes is her soul-mate, but it isn’t enough. The cold, lonely city causes Amalia and her girlfriends to seek refuge in the opposite sex. Stumbling through her relationships, Amalia encounters Michael, an inconsistent friend-with-benefits. After all, the only thing consistent about New York is its beauty. After getting terribly lost searching for love in all the wrong places, Amalia embarks on a journey to find her strength, which leads her to detox from all things men. She quickly realizes that solely chasing love closes her off to all of the other good things life has to offer. Now she must decide – what is worth the chase? (GoodReads).Chase by Jill Knapp Zitron. I can't decide where I stand on this book. Did I like it? Did it bother me? Were any of the characters people I wanted to spend my time reading about? The jury is hung, but lets get down to reviewing and see how things sort out.
- Originality: 7. Post-college NYC adventures. I don't see a lot of books geared towards twenty-somethings specifically that aren't "New Adult" type romances.
- Absurdity: 4. Like every TV show/movie out there, people have enormous apartments in snazzy places. At least Amalia's bf lives in a walkup in Alphabet City. That looks more like real life.
- Level of Paranormal Romance: 4. I couldn't get behind and root for any of the romances in this book. One was dull and worn in, and I never warm to books or movies about cheating. That is not entertainment in my book. (Heyyyy, half-way pun!)
- Level of Harry-Potterness: 3. This book just didn't do it for me. The best thing was the well-done NYC landscape. Knapp-Zitron knows her neighborhoods. I liked this a lot, but if your not a local/NYC buff, you might have a harder time finding something to keep this read going.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received a review copy from Smith Publicity -- Sunflower Press. Happy reading followed. (We do not accept or receive compensation for reviews at YAF and WS.)
This doesn't sound like quite my type of book, but I completely agree with your first comment! I've kind of grown bored with New Adult books. With only a couple exceptions, they all seem like the same book that I have issues with every time. I want more books, with this age group, that have an actual story to them!
ReplyDeleteNot sure if this is my cup of tea.............. But did you ever read the Jessica Darling books? In Charmed Thirds she goes to college at NYU and in Fourth Comings she is a post college grad in NYC. Seriously, some of my favorite books.
ReplyDelete