A Man Around The House by TR Fischer: My Review

[DRL_Books]

This is my unofficial review for A Man Around The House by TR Fischer


During her last year studying to be a nurse, Tara is struggling to balance her part time job as stylist, school, and social life while trying to not fall apart when memories of her traumatic past keep reminding her where she comes from.

Her life doesn’t get any easier when she gets bribed to sneak a foreign costumer for a haircut, and it doesn’t help when she saves his life after he crashes his car a few days later, putting her career choice and her composure to a test.

Right from the first page I fell in love with Tara and her sense of humor, despite the hard times that the universe was apparently not going to stop throwing at her. Also, when Bo stepped into Hair We Are, I found myself smiling with his cocky and confident attitude, cute and exasperating at the same time.
Their story is not the common love at first sight romance, despite of taking place along no more than two months, while I read the book, I felt like they took the time to really know each other and fall for each other. Their chemistry was undeniable from the beginning, making it relatable and real, even for those that think “those things never happen in real life”.

I liked several aspects of the story, the fact that there is no swearing, no cussing and no explicit sex scenes, makes it a clean and sweet book for young readers and for people that doesn’t enjoy the erotic kind of romance. Despite not being sex-driven, the story doesn’t feel naïve or childish, it focuses on the character’s feelings and thought as they try to realize what those feelings are and if they are willing to take action on them.

I also liked that they story doesn’t end when they get together, but shows all the struggles and real problems they must face afterwards. Making it even more relatable and giving you the answers to what happened after, that we normally seek when a romance book ends.

The suspense aspect of the story was very well introduced and added a nice twist to the love story that we obviously were expecting when opened the book. Having to face a few stalkers, men that don’t take a no for an answer and a crazy ex-girlfriend, Tara and Bo’s relationship is put to a test. With police and guns involved (and a very cute and brave dog), their lives seem to never catch a break.

I give the book 3 out of 4 stars because I think that, even when the story was very well developed and the characters were lovable and funny, it would have been better if told in first person, and even alternating points of view between Tara and Bo. The third person writing is tricky when trying to explain how characters feel while following the “Show don’t tell” rule, and sometimes I found myself thinking this would be much better if the characters themselves said how they felt and what they thought, instead of having the author reading their minds.

Also, look at the book cover! That’s Tara’s gorgeous Victorian house, sometime during the book I had to stare at it for a while and picture them in there. It was a nice touch to give the house such a big role into the story.

Overall, it was a nice book, I couldn’t stop reading to find out what was going to happen with Stacey (crazy ex-girlfriend) and how they were going to get past all the drama that surrounded them. A recommendable story, a sweet romance with a suspense twist, I’ll read more books from TR Fisher for sure.