Beautiful Illusion by Jacquie Underdown - Book Review

To start off with a tongue in cheek and possibly overly British phrase; this book really wasn't my cup of tea.

It's a romance, and lord knows I love those, with somewhat star-crossed lovers; I love those too. I loved the premise of the book. To sum it up in short, a thirty year old woman called Leah is in a car crash, and when she "wakes up" she is (coincidentally) sharing a hospital room with a charming and somewhat chocolate-obsessed man of a similar age. They date, fall hopelessly in love after spending six months with each other, and are swept up in a whirlwind romance. Then one day Leah really wakes up, to find out it has all been a part of her coma, and that Brennan does not actually exist.

Normally, I would stop here so as not to ruin the ending, but it is pretty much already ruined by the blurb, so it's easy to guess that he does in fact turn out to be real.

When reading the blurb I was excited to read this, it has all the makings to be one of my favourite books. However it never really grabbed me and made me want to read it, nor did I empathise with any of the characters. Trust me when I say I really wanted to like this book, but it didn't work out that way. That's not to say I particularly disliked it, but it's not going to be on the top of my 'to re-read' pile. I'm not the only one who has one of those... right?

There was very little character building, I often felt that I didn't really know what the characters looked like. As a reader, we are given snippets of information but it's difficult to 'picture' any of the characters or really get attached to them. I also felt it somehow managed to be a slow read, but the major events were rushed. I didn't find myself tearing through it, but all the major events were predictable, cliché, and happened too quickly (e.g Leah spilling the secrets of her predictably dark, dramatic past).

However, I am possibly the soppiest reader to ever exist. I may not have completely bought into the ending, I did however thoroughly enjoy it. I am a sucker for a happy endings, and part of me almost wishes there was more of their post-coma relationship shown; I feel like Underdown could definitely make a sequel out of their year long honeymoon, but possibly classify it under Erotica as opposed to Romance if they are going to be 'making love in every country'.
It was adorable and heart-warming, but definitely not a life-altering read of 2013. I would recommend it if you are looking for an easy read that doesn't take much thought or concentration.

Release date: 1st October 2013

Happy reading!

Disclaimer: This book was provided to me for review by Harlequin Enterprises Australia