The Predictable Heartbreaks of Imogen Finch
Ratings1
Average rating5
15
Ratings1
Average rating5
Jacqueline Firkins's The Predictable Heartbreaks of Imogen Finch is a beautiful story of friendship, and second chances at love.
Imogen Finch has just been through her seventeenth breakup. She saw it coming, so she's not as crushed as she might be, but with all seventeen of her exes leaving her for other partners, she's come to believe a prediction her well-intentioned and possibly clairvoyant mother made over twenty years ago: that Imogen would never come first at anything or to anyone. Is her love life failing due to a magical curse? Insufficient effort? Poor timing or personality mismatches? Everyone has opinions on the matter.
Imogen's ready to give up altogether. But when Eliot Swift, her secret high school crush, returns to their small coastal town after a decade of nomadic travels, Imogen has new motivation to try again. Eliot's full of encouragement. He suggests that her curse is not only imagined, it's easily breakable. All they need is one win--any win--and she can believe in love, and in herself again.
From trivia games to swimming races to corn-shucking contests, the pair sets out to snag Imogen her first first. But when victory proves more elusive than Eliot anticipated, and when his deep-seeded wanderlust compels him to depart for far away places, Imogen fears she's destined to remain in second place forever. Fortunately for them both, sometimes magic lingers in the most unexpected places. And love is far from predictable.
Reviews with the most likes.
This book took ages to get into. It felt really slow to get going and I wasn't sure i was going to like the characters but I am glad I stuck it out. The writing is great and once the book gets going, it really brings about a super enjoyable read.
It took me a while to love Imogen, but she definitely grew on me. It was a solid read and I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes chick lit.
thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for my gifted copy
3.75 stars
Quirky And Spicy. Straight up: If quirky books with a touch of magical realism/ off-the-beaten-path type vibes isn't really your thing... eh, you likely won't like this book. If spicy books with several (I wouldn't necessarily call them "frequent") on-screen sex scenes of various forms isn't your thing... this probably isn't the book for you, as it does feature them. If you're looking for a "perfect" "cowboy rides off into the sunset with his woman in the saddle behind him" type HEA... the HEA here works for this couple, but aint that type. So maybe this isn't your thing either, but in your case I'd say give it a shot anyway, as it *does* fulfill all known "requirements" (which I use loosely, as I've been known to wage war with purists on them) for the romance genre... in its own ways.
For those that are still here... this is actually a fun, off-beat, light-yet-serious tale of one woman's search for love - despite the curse from her mother - and the dude who has always been there but hasn't always been there. At around 350 pages, it isn't short, but it also isn't unnecessarily drawn out either. Sure, maybe some scenes could be cut (I know, the "clean" / "sweet" crowd wishes the sex scenes were cut, and I'm sure other readers would want others cut), but overall the tale works well with what it has and nothing actually feels *truly* out of place.
Ultimately, I had fun with this zany tale and its road-less-traveled take on love, and those looking for a romance book that isn't like seemingly literally *every other romance book out there* I think will at least enjoy that this one *does* go places many don't. Very much recommended.
Originally posted at bookanon.com.
