Review ~ Buenos Dias Lucy London by Iza MacLeod

ebook received from the author in exchange for an honest review

Release Date:

Publisher: Self-published

Description:
British girl Lucy has the time of her life in Buenos Aires. She meets people from all over the world, makes some brilliant friends and parties the night away while trying to learn Spanish by day. It’s not just excitement though. While revelling in the foreign adventure, Lucy soon becomes mesmerized by the place and a certain porteño. Polo, tango, wonderful food and hospitality ... Lucy samples all things Argentine, before briefly stopping at other international destinations on her way home.
Though Lucy feels very much at home back in England, she can’t completely let go of her time in Argentina and she needs to decide where – and with whom – her heart really belongs.
A tale of passion, romance and the freedom of being somewhere that’s completely different from home.

My Opinion

I was looking forward to reading this book as I'm always on the look out for new romances, and this one sounded like it had a unique setting and an interesting story. As well as that, I thought it would be an enjoyable read that would banish the cold weather that's arrived here because of the setting. 

However, whilst I think the overall story has potential, this book was let down by the writing in a big way. In Buenos Dias Lucy London, the author tells you everything rather than shows you, and this did make the book a struggle to get through. Rather than describe things, at times it felt like I was reading a list of daily activities with little description or real emotions. Of course, this then led on to other problems. 

Because there was so much telling, there was very little speech, but rather phrases like "Michael told me this", "we said this", "I then did this while saying this" etc. You're probably all aware by now that this is one of my biggest pet peeves because I feel it distances you from the book and the characters. If there's going to be a conversation, I want to read the speech as in my eyes it moves the story along quicker, and that's where the most emotion is added so you can get a sense of who the characters are. 

When there was speech it was interesting, especially with the mixture of Spanish and English because it gave the book an authentic quality. However, it was always over too soon and it was also followed with some kind of description 99% of the time about how it was said--sometimes in the middle of phrases. I found a lot of the time it was unnecessary and I ended up skimming it because it became too repetitive.

Similarly, because of the telling, it led to a jumpy story line that was kind of hard to follow. The days went by at an alarming rate, with little happening sometimes and I still don't know the time the book spans.

Saying that, things do get better towards the end. The speech increases and I thought the story became clearer and more interesting. However, I didn't feel it fit with the first half and I'm not sure how the jump was made. Chapter 45 lost me especially as it came out of nowhere! It was definitely better, but it felt like I was reading a separate book. This is probably down to not being able to connect with the characters as due to the telling rather than showing, you don't often get an insight into Lucy's thoughts and therefore her decisions often seem rash or impulsive.

Overall, I think the story in this book has potential. It could be a really enjoyable read if the author works out the kinks with the telling as it has all the promise of a great holiday, chick-lit novel. The fact that the author has lived in Buenos Aires too means that she's able to create a believable story in the setting that I haven't read about before, which could make it stand out. As it stands at the moment though, it was a struggle for me to read as I lacked that connection with the characters and story. However, it hold promise.

2.5/3