Twosome Tuesday: Love In English by Karina Hale

Synopsis:

He’s thirty-eight. I’m twenty-three.

He speaks Spanish. I speak English.

He lives in Spain. I live in Canada.

He dresses in thousand-dollar suits. I’m covered in tattoos.

He’s married and has a five-year old daughter. I’m single and can’t commit to anyone or anything.

Until now.Because when they say you can’t choose who you fall in love with, boy ain’t that the f*#king truth.

***

To a restless dreamer like Vera Miles, it sounded like the experience of a lifetime. Instead of spending her summer interning for her astronomy major, she would fly to Spain where she’d spend a few weeks teaching conversational English to businessmen and women, all while enjoying free room and board at an isolated resort. But while Vera expected to get a tan, meet new people and stuff herself with wine and paella, she never expected to fall in love.

Mateo Casalles is unlike anyone Vera has ever known, let alone anyone she’s usually attracted to. While Vera is a pierced and tatted free spirit with a love for music and freedom, Mateo is a successful businessman from Madrid, all sharp suits and cocky Latino charm. Yet, as the weeks go on, the two grow increasingly close and their relationship changes from purely platonic to something…more.

Something that makes Vera feel alive for the first time.

Something that can never, ever be.

Or so she thinks.

Purchase:

Amazon | B&N 

Reviews: 

Heather's Review

 5 Forbidden smooches

Ohhhh the FEEEEELS!!!! I will never do this book justice so please forgive me in advance.  You can gather from the blurb that this book is a very forbidden romance.  It is a book about cheating.  About a young frivolous woman who falls in love with a married man… one with a child at that on a month long trip to Spain.  I HATE cheating.  Seriously despise it but I LOVE to read forbidden romance.  It is a favorite of mine and this book has also become a favorite of mine.  

While I knew all along that Vera and Mateo were WRONG, I kept trying to excuse their feelings.  I looked for reasons to hate his wife.  I wanted what they were doing to be okay.  I loved Vera.  *GASP*  How do you love the “other woman?”  I just did.  She fought her feelings.  She felt such guilt over them.  Yes, she acted on them, but the guilt never left.  And Mateo, holy Jesus that Italian stud had it all.  He was so romantic… so determined and sure of his feelings for Vera.  He made me swoon, laugh, and cry.  Karina did such a great job on his slightly broken English that it was even easy to imagine his accent.  And a good Spanish accent could melt the panties off a nun!

“You made me stop chasing the days.  You made me hold onto them.”~ Mateo

Mateo’s feelings never wavered.  It was Vera who struggled the most and ultimately she is the one who made all of the “grown-up” decisions.

“You and I, we were always a memory in the making.” ~ Vera

“Love is like a thief, it robs you of all thought and logic, and all you have left is a heart that you can only pray is strong enough to survive the rest.” ~Mateo

Love in English is a beautiful broken-love story.  One that I struggled with morally but by halfway through I had no morals left! LOL  This book shattered my heart.  I don’t want to give too much away.  You get a lot just in the blurb and I tried not to give any more.  READ THIS BOOK!  Fall in love on a month long trip to Spain with a sexy Spaniard.  What young girl doesn’t have dreams of backpacking across Europe and having a Summer romance with a sexy foreigner??  

“Did none of this mean anything to you?” he whispered harshly.

“It meant everything to me.”

This is so different from Karina's other books.  She can really do it all!  Even if you are not a fan of cheating... give this book a shot.  Karina makes it okay...  really... at least a little okay... I am still justifying it all in my own head! LOL

Selene's Review

5 - I promise nada - Smooches

“Love, that ultimate villainess. She makes examples of us all.”

Volunteering in Spain, at Las Palabras, an English Immersion Program, twenty-three year old Vera Miles finds herself and love with an older, married Spaniard, Mateo Cassales. Vera comes from a broken home and knows, first hand, the impact a parent’s affair can have. So when she meets and is completely enamored with Mateo, she does everything in her power to fight the feelings that are growing between them.

“What if Mateo wanted to kiss me? What would I do? I mean I couldn’t kiss him back, it would be wrong. But f### if it would feel anything but right.” - Vera

And Mateo …. Poor Mateo. The story is told exclusively from Vera’s point of view so it’s hard to tell if his marital misery is justified or if he’s just having a mid-life crisis.

“Sometimes, you are stuck being the person you are and not the person you were. Or could be.” - Mateo

The buildup, the culmination of how things play out between them is magic. It was long and drawn out. It was beautiful. I fell head over heels in love with Vera and Mateo falling in love.

It was too late to pretend I didn’t know what I was doing. I was in love, in lust, in something with him and all logic, all facts, all reality, none of that seemed to matter, not to my body and not to my heart. - Vera

The lines between right and wrong blur as the weeks go by.

“You can tell me to stop,” he whispered. “And I will stop. But please, don’t tell me to stop.” – Mateo

VERA!!!! Please don’t tell him to stop. Even I am begging you!!!! 

Love, In English completely rocked my world. It was an emotional roller coaster ride …. one that had me SOBBING one minute, elated the next. This book did something that only one other author/book has managed to do. It had me hoping Vera and Mateo would work out …. despite the age difference, despite the ocean that separated them, despite his wife and child. I deplore cheaters …. yet, somehow, I was in Vera and Mateo’s corner. I have no idea how Karina Halle worked her voodoo magic on my moral compass but I was sold on this doomed romance – hook, line, and sinker.

Each month, we host a group read.  This month, Love, In English was our chosen book.  Here's what others thought ....

• 5 Forbidden stars for an original story that squeezes the life out of you and doesn't let go. - Jessica

• I fell in love with this romance, because it was so usual, yet so beautifully written. This became one of my top 5 favorite standalones. - Hilarie

• 5+ stars for an original love story that melted me!
  - Jennifer

• I'd give the book 4 1/2 stars, loved the original plot, I almost felt like I was in Spain. Two people who couldn't be more different fall in love, the ending left me wanting more. - Donna