2 out of 4 stars
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“Once you’ve been in love, the real kind. You know, the kind where you’re head-over-heels, will do anything to make the other happy kind of love, then all the other relationships pale in comparison. They’re missing something. They’re a little disgusting, just like fat-free cheese.” -Eva, Love and Fat-Free Cheese.
There probably aren’t that many people who genuinely like fat-free cheese. Fat-free cheese lacks flavor and one can even say that it is simple and bland. It can even be compared to a bad romance. You don’t really like the flavor and after some time, you realize that you can’t bear to have it anymore. In Love and Fat-Free Cheese by Crissy Sharp, we see the main character endure all the bad romance until she finds love with the one she truly wants.
The main protagonist of the story, Julia, is looking for a new love and a new career. She gets the career when she starts working at the Bradley Corporation. As for the love, she finds herself smitten with her new boss, Owen. Things get complicated in her life when the past of her sister’s missing fiancé begins to haunt her entire family. Adding to the list of complications is Owen’s relationship to the Bradley family and their disapproval of Julia. Will Julia finally get the love that she wants or will she be stuck with the “fat-free cheese” type of romance?
The title of the book was interesting, and I liked how the author tied the title into the dialogue of the story. Some of the plot kept my interest, especially the mystery surrounding Julia’s sister, Eva, and the missing fiancé. It was interesting seeing how the characters overcame all the issues pertaining to that plot. I also found Julia’s character to be likable and relatable. I found myself rooting for her and hoping for a happy ending. Even though there were a lot of things that I liked about the book, there were also a few negatives.
One of the biggest negatives that I had was with the plot and the romance of the book. The book is categorized as a romance, but there were hardly any romantic scenes between Owen and Julia. There was barely any development to their relationship. The romance came off as rushed, stiff and the two characters didn’t have any real chemistry. As for the plot, the main storyline should have been the romance, instead, the main plot was about Eva and her missing fiancé. The plot surrounding the fiancé completely overshadowed the romance in the story. Truthfully, the book would have been better off categorized as a mystery with Eva as the main character.
I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. The reason for this rating is because of the lack of chemistry between the characters and the lack of development in their relationship. If this book hadn’t been categorized as a romance story, then my rating would have been a little higher. Unfortunately, since this is a romance novel, I felt the romance was overshadowed by other plots. As mentioned earlier, if it had been written in another character’s POV and categorized in another genre, I would have considered the book a great work of fiction. In spite of my rating, I would recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery stories with happy endings.
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Love and Fat-Free Cheese
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