Review: All the Frogs in Manhattan by Carrie Aarons

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Standalone
Release - March 3, 2017
Genre - RomCom
Dual POV - 1st person
Heat - 3.5 out of 5
Length - 220 pages

You know how Cinderella had the whole glass slipper, pumpkin carriage, fairy godmother thing?

Yeah…with foot-destroying stilettos, Uber, and a Twitter horoscope, my life is far from a happily ever after.

In fact, instead of Prince Charming, I end up dating every slimy, scaly, brainless frog in the kingdom of Manhattan. And by frog, I mean all of the stereotypical bad guys that Mom and Lifetime movies warned you about.

The meathead player.
The mommy's boy.
The namedropper.
The cheapskate.

If they suck at relationships, I’ve probably kissed those cold, clammy lips in the hopes of finding love. Until one day, when one man with commitment issues offers to help me find the Romeo to my Juliet.

But what happens when the frog, who was never supposed to turn into a prince, kisses you at midnight? Ok fine, he propositioned me for some afternoon delight after brunch, but not everything can be straight out of a fairytale.

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MY REVIEW

I believe that ALL THE FROGS IN MANHATTAN was a brilliant introduction to Carrie Aarons writing. For those of you, like me, who haven't read anything from this author before, READ THIS BOOK!! It was charming, funny, romantic, had enough drama to keep one's interest, and had a realistic vibe throughout the story.

Going into this I thought I knew what to expect. I've read tons of stories about friends-with-benefits and they all seem to follow a certain type of formula, with little variation. So you can imagine my surprise when this one took a turn that I didn't expect but definitely appreciated. What happens when the friends-with-benefits trope ends before the actual ending? Isn't it suppose to graduate into an automatic HEA?! That's when I knew that this author wasn't playing around by injecting reality into the fiction.

There were many things to like but the one's that stand out are:
♛ Oliver's upfront and straight-forward talk and attitude.
♛ The openness of the banter between Oliver and Gemma.
♛ The awkwardness of the first time these two had sex. It was hilarious and so stupidly real. Most books speak of the instant connection between its main characters and the first time they are intimate is fluid and there are no mishaps. Nope, not for these two and it made them that much more endearing and real to me.
♛ The picture the author painted of the single life in NYC, especially for women. It wasn't incredibly realistic but it was certainly desperate. Especially when Gemma was divesting herself of the slim pickings characterized in this story. Her dates were too funny!!

Overall, I have to say that this book was a joy to read. My only disappointment lies in the fact that I wanted more time to enjoy this couple as a couple. Through their many ups and downs I wanted to see them stable for a little while. But that's just me and my greedy self ;)