Kindle Freebies: Not Dreaming of You by Nina Cordoba

As I sit down to metaphorically pen my first review of the series, I'm wondering how I'm going to make my way through this ever growing list of books...free or not! I've also just properly discovered Book Tube (I know, where have I been?!) so as I'm watching people's channels, my Amazon wishlist is growing longer and longer!

Let's kick the series off with Not Dreaming of You by Nina Cordoba. In all honesty, as a free Kindle chick lit with a pastel cover, I didn't have very high hopes for this novel.

The novel begins very much like most traditional chick lit novels do, with a girl who is described as being really pretty and popular, and looking for someone who is husband material. As usual she is looking for an equally hot guy, but when she meets one, she doubts that someone this popular with the ladies could ever be a respectable husband. Although at this point the ending is incredibly predictable (spoiler alert, they get engaged), the plot takes a few twists and turns which make this an easy read but still a refreshing concept for a chick lit.

At first, I was gripped by the concept that the pretty girl, named Kiki, was looking for a guy who met her list of criteria which she gained from a psychic dream at the age of 13. She signs up to a dating agency to attempt to find said list-fitting man, and a reporter accompanies her on dates with the intention of proving that dating agencies are for crazy people.

However, between 40 and 60% of the way through the book (oh Amazon, would it be too simple to give us page numbers?) I found that the plot was sticking a little, and progressing rather slowly. But if you can manage to get past that, the pace picks up again, throwing in the odd twist to elongate the story.

I did initially think that the novel was going to end at the half way mark as it seemed to be very predictable and drawing to a close, but I was delighted to find that Cordoba wasn't going to be altogether predictable in the structure.

The novel doesn't really cover any significant themes in detail though she does seem to be making a point that dating agencies aren't just for crazy people with no people skills. Cordoba briefly touches upon the grief a woman can feel upon discovering she may not be able to have children. Despite this, it's a lovely novel to read if you don't want to have to think about things too much as the characters are very fairytale-esque in their physical descriptions but easy to relate to in personality.

My rating: 7/10

I would love to know if you've read this or if you read it in the future!

Thanks for reading x