Me, Cinderella?

Me, Cinderella?
by Aubrey Rose
CreateSpace, 2013
Format:  eBook
Audience:  18 and up
ISBN: 9781490521848
Publication Date:  June 24, 2013


Brynn is brainy math major just trying to stay unnoticed, but when she offers a cup of coffee to a lonely man on a snowy night, her whole life changes.  Because this is no ordinary stranger, this is Dr. Eliot Herceg, math professor, innovator, maybe royalty?  When Brynn rightfully earns an internship at Dr. Herceg's prestigious math academy, her dream of going to Hungary comes true, because even though the internship is amazing, she has a deeper need for being there.  At the same time, Eliot has been avoiding Hungary for years, but he is intrigued by Brynn and decides to return to him homeland and the demons that he's been avoiding.  Brynn steps into a world that she always thought was beyond her and she might just find love at that the same time.

It's finally the last day of New Adult Week!  I never thought this day would come, but at least I have a reasonably good book to finish up.

Another romance, but this one at least has some heart, some yearning, some math!  Math has never been so sexy.  Maybe not sexy, but not un-sexy.  

Again, we have two rather broken characters in Brynn and Eliot, but not so broken that they feel beyond repair.  They just need to learn to love again.  I realize how cheesy this sounds, but honestly, Rose writes it in a way that is just this side of sappy and readers will actually be rooting for these two crazy kids.  

This is a Cinderella story as Brynn has struggled for everything that she has, and there's a wicked stepmother, although we don't hear much about that plot point.  That was the trouble with this book, it mentioned greater drama, but didn't deliver.  There is a sequel to this book, so I know that some issues will be resolved in future volumes, but some of the plot points just felt stuck in with a pin for later.  Mostly Brynn's estranged father, her fellow interns at the academy, and her mother's death.  I feel like all of those points could have been a bit more developed and they would not feel so forced.

I feel like a good way to describe this romance is to say that it's the color of the winter sky just before a snowfall.  Like the color of the cover, a lovely blue gray that is full of possibility, both positive and negative.  I know that describing books as colors is pretty hippie of me, but that's the best way I can think to describe it.

Girls Test!  Um, not really.  It's a little too prim and proper for the Girls set.  Really the only thing that makes this a new adult romance rather than an adult romance is Brynn's age.  It's a romance for those that like some moving and heartfelt action, with just a touch of real sex at the end.  But I appreciate that Rose took the time to get to know me, woo me, before the book got all hot and heavy.  

This book was quite readable.  The one sex scene is cancelled out by all the math, so really readers are just left with a romance, plan and simple.  Well not simple, it's still a student-teacher relationship with visions of a dead wife.  But that's pretty simple compared to what I've been reading.

I'll be back this afternoon with a recap of what I've learned from this experiment.  Mostly I've learned that graphs are fun, I'm not a big fan of romance novels, and parents should never name their children after building materials.  I'm still ticked off about Steel Brickman.  

For a heartfelt romance set in Budapest, try Me, Cinderella?.

Happy Reading!