Review: Kismetology by Jaimie Admans

Kismetology

Author: Jaimie Admans
Published: 8th September 2012
Publisher: Jaimie Adams; self-published
Format: eARC
Source; Received from the author
Purchase: Amazon, B&N, Smashwords

From Goodreads:

Finding the perfect man isn't easy. Especially when it's for your mother...  Mothers. Can't live with them, can't live without them, can't live three doors down the road without them interfering in every aspect of your life.  Fed up with her mum meddling in her love life, Mackenzie Atkinson decides to turn the tables and find love for her lonely mother.  Her lonely and very fussy mother. Surely finding an older gentleman looking for love won't be that hard, right?

Wrong.  If you've ever thought that boys grow up, here's the problem: They don't. Ever. And Mackenzie is about to learn that the hard way.

Review:

Kismetology is an amazing chick-lit that tells the story of Mackenzie, who recently moved with her boyfriend Dan, leaving her mom alone..or almost. Infact, she has moved just three house further on the same street where her mother lives. She couldn't have done worse: her mother is always sneaking in their house, complaining about her boyfriend, her furniture and the color of the walls; but worst, she's not alone, she has a little plants-killer Yorkshire with her.

Mackenzie realises that for saving her relationship with Dan she needs to do something to keep her mom busy: find her a date. That's how she will start her own activity: first she needs to know what kind of man/woman the customer wants to date, then she organises several dates in which she knows more about the candidate and then, if he/she is compatible with the customer, she set up a real, final date between the two. Through the hard work to find her mother a date, Mackenzie will discover the meaning of the real love and this intuition will upset her ordinary life.

WOW! I loved this book SO much! It had all the ingredients for the perfect romance: it was fun, fluent, well-written and full-packed with irony, comedy and romanticism. As all my readers knows I usually don't like romantic books but this one was an exception, especially because the author mixed romanticism with parody, in order to make the book more interesting, not boring at all. The framework was excellent, and I immediately thought, from the first page "This is going to be fun"; the idea of a mother always sneaking with her little dog peeing everywhere, really scares me to death!

In its simplicity and humor the book deals with some important issues: love, family relationship, the realisation of our working ambitions. The attempt of Mackenzie was not a simple way to get rid of her mother, but she wanted to find her the man of her life, maybe because she realised that she's never found hers; I think it was very sweet of her and the idea of a direct approach with the candidates, symbolizes how careful Mackenzie is toward her mother and how she wants to avoid her disappointments. In the middle part of the book the author describes a long variety of men of all kinds: from the man who has porns in his pockets, to the one who likes to watch people urinate; apart from being a hilarious description, it really tells the reality of nowadays. I mean, is or is not true that today it has become increasingly difficult to find the perfect man? And that's where the book focuses: sometimes it is necessary to overlook some details because nobody's perfect. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, we just have to valorise our strenghts and try to learn how to deal wit the weaknesses; it is also true that sometimes some details can't be overlooked and in this case we need to give up about that persone and move on: like Mackenzie did, she's always thought Dan was the love of her life but when all his defects start to become unbearable she decides to break up; it is never too late to find happiness!! Awwwww, how positive this book is? 

Speaking of the characters, Mackenzie is a really strong girl! She's not scared about meeting people she doesn't actually know anything about ( and some of them really are perverts!) and she puts her family above all, even if that mean arguing with her boyfriend. What I really liked about her personality is that she's so corageous in changing her life completely and in following her dreams and ambitions; even if some of her friends don't support her in her decision to start her own activity, she doesn't give up and in the end she savors the taste of victory.

Dan was SO irritating! At the beginning he seemed to be okay, I mean supportive, sweet and everything a guy should be. But then he's revealed to be rude and discouraging, a real couch-potato. Just the fact that he was always with his feet on the coffee table was unnerving; I think Mackenzie wasn't quite up to him so she'd totally taken the best decision for her future by breaking up with him. I though he was also quite aggressive sometimes and I didn't like how intolerant he was about Mackenzie's mother situation: someone who talk like he did, about my mother doesn't deserve a minute more of my affection!

Mackenzie's mother was a difficult character to understand; she's the incarnation of a lonely middle-aged woman who searches for consolation in her daughter; I thought that sometimes she liked to annoy the couple,especially Dan but in the end I realised that, with her own manners, she just wanted to let Mackenzie understand that she wasn't living the life she's always dreamed about and that she deserved a better one.

I think "Kismetology" was a really good book, and I think all of you who love comedy mixed with romanticism will love it. Also, for all the singles, you may find some really useful advices!

Rated: 4.50

My favourite quotes

"If I could give one piece of advice to every teenager in the world, it would be this: when you move away from home, move far, far away, and never look back. My biggest mistake? I didn't move far enough."

"I know but accident do happen. You are using a good brand name of condoms, aren't you? Because those cheap ones..."

"Mum!"

"Eleanor."

"You could have been having a three course meal by candlelight, and you opt for a skinny latte and a doughnut, all because of a damn dog?"

"He's not just a damn dog, Mackenzie. This is my..."

"Let me guess," I interrupt." Your Baby?"

"My baby."

"You're not a pimp Mac. Maybe she's just gone to see his collection of coins or something equally enthralling."

"Yeah. Or his collection of condoms."

"If they use one."

"Dan..."