Love, In English by Karina HalleMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
5 Estrella Stars!
Love is powerful. Love can pull people together and tear people apart. Love has no time limit, no regard for age, religion, race or social/economic status. Love is just love. You can’t control when you fall or who you fall in love with. Sometimes, it just happens.
Vera and Mateo’s story isn’t easy to read. It can be difficult for some readers to read about cheating. Especially when it’s cheating within a marriage. I guess this is a disclaimer, but I really hope it doesn’t sway people against reading this beautifully written, emotional story.
Our heroine, Vera has never really been in love. She is on her way to Spain, and love is the last thing on her mind. As a twenty three year old astronomy student from Canada, she will be working with Spanish speaking men and woman looking to brush up their English skills. 4 weeks at Las Palabras and her life is changed forever. Meeting Mateo changes her life forever.
Mateo is a thirty eight year old business man. He’s a retired pro soccer player and he is married with a small child. Mateo isn’t out to find a woman. That’s not on his mind when he goes to Las Palabras to brush up on his English. Mateo’s life has changed drastically since he got injured and married his wife. It’s like the life has been sucked out of him. He’s not the same person he once was.
“You will see. Sometimes you are stuck being the person you are and not the person you were. Or could be.”
But when he meets Vera, he can’t resist her. There is something about this vibrant woman that gives him hope. Makes him feel like his old self again. Mateo and Vera start developing a friendship, slowly building into more. Both fight their feelings for so long. Especially Vera. She portrays herself as a villain, she feels terrible for falling for this married man, but she never sought out to do it. She denies her feelings for so long. But sometimes, you can’t help who you fall in love with, or how fast you fall.
“You can’t fall in love in a week.”
“You can fall in love in a second. The heart has no regard for time.”
So we have a younger woman and a married older man. From two totally different worlds. Both know it is close to impossible to be together, but how can you fight something so strong? Is real true love really wrong?
“Estrella, I have never wanted anyone, anything, quite like I want you.”
And what happens when the four weeks are over with?
“There will be nights where you will feel alone and lost, where I will feel alone and lost. When that happens, I want us both to remember this, right now. Bring our thoughts back to this room, this moment. Where we aren’t lonely. Where we both are found.”
As much as I loved Mateo, strangely enough, Vera was my favorite of the characters. She was far from perfect, but she was real. And deep down a good person. She was in a complicated and difficult situation and handled it the best way she knew how. I was actually proud of her for certain choices she made down the line. She was a strong heroine who was really likable to me. Mateo was sweet, sexy and swoony. There were times I questioned him actions, but by the end, he won me over.
Karina Halle’s writing is fresh, original and full of emotion. I felt the angst, the heart ache and the pain. But there were also splashes of humor, lots of love, friendship, and beauty.
Forbidden romances are my favorite. This was one of the best contemporary romances I’ve read lately. Even though the story line was somewhat controversial, it’s a story I would highly recommend to everyone.
*ARC kindly provided by author in exchange for honest review.*
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