Official Review: Location of Love by Calvin Himel

[Paige Alvarado]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Location of Love" by Calvin Himel.]

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1 out of 4 stars

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Charles Harcourt is an extremely well-to-do businessman. His fortune sprouted from successful business investments and grew as he continued to purchase and sell real estate. He has a beautiful, custom-built home, a huge portfolio of assets, and his own real-estate company complete with loyal employees. After losing his wife, the only thing missing in his life is love.

One day, Charlie agrees to meet with a woman who was interested in listing some properties for sale. One of the properties was occupied by a woman, Victoria Cook, who tragically lost her husband and cannot make ends meet. The woman who owned the property didn't care for Mrs. Cook and told Harcourt he would be responsible for evicting her. When he met Victoria, he felt sorry for her and offered her a job as his live-in housekeeper. This business relationship quickly became sexual and soon enough, Charlie found himself falling in love with her. While their relationship evolved, so did Charlie's business, and life was looking better than ever for both of them. What could possibly go wrong?

Location of Love by Calvin Himel is written from the point of view of Charles Harcourt. He gives a day-by-day account of his life from the time he meets Victoria, discussing his love life, relationships with employees and clients, as well as major business transactions. Additionally, he discusses the addition of new employees and the expansion of his office that was necessary to accommodate his growing team.

Each chapter is written according to what day it is, similar to a journal entry. For example, Chapter One is "Day One," or the first day that he met Victoria. He records the events of each day from the moment he wakes up until he falls asleep.

My favorite part of Location of Love was when Charlie talks to his coworker about women after a client attempted to hit on him. He says that business relationships are just that, and he only needs one woman in his life. He expands to acknowledge that the women he works with are very beautiful, but they are for the eyes only. He states that being honest with your woman is always the best route, so "...don't lie and don't cheat, [because] they know, you can't hide, they can smell another woman on you, and little do you know it, your demeanor changes..." This was an area that resonated with me because I felt that Charlie was truly a likable character. I admired his self-control when it came to his very persistent client.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of things that I did not like about this book. The paragraphs were incredibly long, some spanning across multiple pages, and were polluted with run-on sentences. Also, none of the dialogue was punctuated with quotation marks. There were also a lot of typographical errors. The book was 466 pages. In the first 100 pages, I highlighted 72 typos, including several improper uses of their/there/they're and to/too/two. Although the copyright page stated that this is the second printing of this book and is a re-edit, I do not believe that this was ever proofread, let alone professionally edited.

My biggest complaint is that there was no drama. Charles had a perfect life. His relationship was great. Victoria kept his house clean and obeyed his every command. His job was awesome. He had tons of money and virtually no enemies. I was bored with the narrative due to the lack of depth or plot twists.

Additionally, the erotic scenes- the parts that were supposed to be exciting- were not well-written in my opinion. The characters explored several kinks including bondage and submissiveness, which doesn't bother me a bit. The problem I had was with the author's word choice combined with the grammatical errors. For example, Himel used the word "protruding" on several occasions to describe the female anatomy. This grossed me out more than anything, and I found it to be very disappointing.

Overall, I did not enjoy Location of Love. The writing was sloppy, it was improperly formatted, and it lacked excitement. Due to the graphic eroticism and heavy use of profanity, it is absolutely not suitable for immature readers, but I really wouldn't recommend it to anybody. I am sorry to say that I can only give Location of Love 1 out of 4 stars.

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Location of Love
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[Stephanie Elizabeth]

It's too bad to hear the book had so many shortcomings and I am sorry you had to soldier through it. Thanks for your honest review!

[kdstrack]

I was wondering where the story was going after he met Victoria. It looks like it didn't go too far! I still enjoyed your insights about this book. Thanks.

[Dannyphery]

Had high hopes for the book... I'm kinda dissapointed. So many flaws.
Thanks for the honest review though

[Paige Alvarado]

It's too bad to hear the book had so many shortcomings and I am sorry you had to soldier through it. Thanks for your honest review!

Haha, good word choice. It was a task, for sure.

[Paige Alvarado]

I was wondering where the story was going after he met Victoria. It looks like it didn't go too far! I still enjoyed your insights about this book. Thanks.

Yeah his life just became more perfect. What's funny is that the author's note claims that this is based on his own life... Maybe in his dreams!