TITLE: Love Hard
A Memoir
AUTHOR: Monica James
GENRE: Creative Non-Fiction
RELEASE DATE: May 15, 2024
BLURB.
If love is an addiction, your first love is the first hit.
How many of you remember your first love?
Because falling in love for the first time…I remember that. And that’s the thing about your first love—we all have a love story.
But this isn’t a love story.
This is a life story.
The good.
The bad.
The heartache.
It’s all here.
Love is truly a battlefield…
Love is scary, and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. When you love someone wholeheartedly, you leave yourself open to being destroyed…and that’s what I did, what I still do even though I know better.
But it doesn’t make a difference.
The best kind of love doesn’t make sense. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.
This one-in-a-million story is mine, and if you take anything away from this book, it would be to never be afraid to love.
So, let me introduce myself. You may call me Z.
Buckle up, besties, because this will be a bumpy ride.
Love hits you when you least expect it.
Are you ready for the fall?
PURCHASE LINKS.
PLAYLIST.
MY REVIEW.
3 Stars from Tiffany!
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Not Sure About This One…
This was my first dive into Monica James's writing, and Love Hard certainly made for an intriguing introduction. Blending elements of memoir with a Sex and the City vibe, the concept intrigued me, but I found myself wavering on whether it truly hit the mark.
Right from the start in chapter one, readers meet Z and her group of FRIENDS, each character uniquely identified by being CAPITALIZED. While this stylistic choice may have been intended for emphasis or anonymity and maybe I’m a sensitive reader, but THIS threw me for a LOOP the ENTIRE book. I found it annoying and distracting, taking away from the lead character the author was trying to get me to like.
Speaking of the lead character, Z was one that had to grow on me. At times she was written as an over the top bad ass. Okay, we get it, you’re an “alpha” get over yourself already. Then there were other times when she was real and true and absolutely heartbroken. When she was real, she was relatable to me, the alpha crap was just that, crap.
Love Hard is undeniably different, and there were aspects that piqued my interest. Yet, the execution felt somewhat cluttered, with the inclusion of song titles as chapter headings, most I didn't know (I understand an author’s playlist, but leave it at the beginning of the book) and a reliance on CAPITALIZED character names. While I can appreciate the author's intention to create a unique reading experience, it ultimately hindered my immersion in the story.
Overall, Love Hard read more like a personal project than a cohesive narrative, and it didn't quite align with my reading preferences.
AUTHOR BIO.
MONICA JAMES spent her youth devouring the works of Anne Rice, William Shakespeare, and Emily Dickinson.
When she is not writing, Monica is busy running her own business, but she always finds a balance between the two. She enjoys writing honest, heartfelt, and turbulent stories, hoping to leave an imprint on her readers. She draws her inspiration from life.
She is a bestselling author in the U.S.A., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, and the U.K.
Monica James resides in Melbourne, Australia, with her wonderful family, and menagerie of animals. She is slightly obsessed with cats, chucks, and lip gloss, and secretly wishes she was a ninja on the weekends.
AUTHOR LINKS.
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