A Love for the Pages, from Joy Penny

Hi, there! Welcome to my first of many reviews for the day! ❤ It’s a pleasure to say that all my book reviews today were very pleasant reads that warmed my heart ❤

Our first star is a book I received from the author herself in exchange for an honest review: A Love for the Pages, from adorable Joy Penny! Thanks so much for trusting me with your work, darling! I loved your book so much ❤

from my Instagram ❤

The Story

June Eyermann is back to her small town life after her fist year at college and she couldn’t be more disappointed. Her best friend, Deana, doesn’t speak with her for months, her classes and subjects suck hard, she had to deal with the fact that her ex-sort-of-boyfriend is her younger brother best friend. Oh, and on top of all that? June better get a job real soon or she’ll be stuck with her stepdad in his company all summer as an internee.

But June is okay with all that because there is one place where no crap can reach her: the romantic classic world. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are her favorite books ever and always manage to make her feel better about anything.

That is, until she meets Everett Rockford, the oh-so-rich and desirable heir of the Rockford family, that runs everything in June’s small town. The guys seems like a walking Darcy Rochester Heathcliff version of her favorite novels… For good and bad: All the good looks, all the bad traits. Too prideful, too blunt, too full of himself. The perfect jerk.

Only that June refuses to really fall for a guy like that. It’s one thing to read about it; it’s another entirely different to live it and feel his detachment on her own skin.

June just wants to walk away from this dream-turned-nightmare. She would hate to find out if the guy also keeps a wife locked up on his attic.

The problem is Rockford is not going anywhere but after her.

The Analysis

Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂

I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH! I knew it would be a blast since Joy’s first e-mailed me, but it was way better than I anticipated! I’m not a great fan of first person narrated books or contemporary romances, but this book touched me. It was too close to home, in a good way. I’ve never lived any kind of romance, but I could relate and understand June. Also, I liked her and the rest is history lol If I met a guy like Everett, I’d run like crazy too. And that’s the catch of this book: is mister perfect really perfect? I had such deep reflections upon this story that I often stopped reading and stared to my bedroom’s wall in pure epiphany, haha! I couldn’t give it any less than 5 stars ❤

The whole story is told by June’s perspective and this surprisingly worked very well for A Love for the Pages. As Rockford is supposed to be a walking mystery (and he is), the fact that the reader is kept in the dark along June makes us want to devour the book and understand what the hell is Rockford’s deal. Once again, I have to take my hat off for this narrative style, haha!

me for Joy, haha!

The plot was simple, but full of little mysteries. Small town girl meets very rich boy, doesn’t really like him, spends time with him, starts to like him without realizing and they fall in love. No biggie, nothing complex, but oh-so delightful! I was in a small reading slump before grabbing A Love for the Pages. Now I need more! Lucky me I just found out that Joy wrote a prequel for this book on Wattpad, called A Love for the Mistletoe ❤ Reading this tonight for sure, haha!

Anyway, I lost my track of thought. Point is, anything that Joy writes from now on, I’ll be certain to read. To the characters!

I loved every single character on this book – especially June and Rockford. June is a cute enough girl that seems younger than she really is, with a practical side fighting her romantic dreams. I related so hard to her that it hurt, haha! She was also small, just like me, oops! She loved the classics and was so clever, but so dutiful. And completely clueless on the right things. I think I’m too besotted with her as a protagonist and my newest bookish bff to judge her, haha!

The same can be said of Rockford. He was perfect on his flaws and he had to back down on the classic heroes catch to have June.

Also, there were just so many funny quotes involving him. June really will be a wonderful professional on her career, haha! Instead of going on and on about how good the most-generous-Rockford is, I’ll allow June the honors:

“It’s you, isn’t it?” he [Rockford] asks, like I could possibly not be me and confirm my non-existence.

~*~

I haven’t seen a Rockford at the library so far as I know since I nearly killed one.

~*~

Maybe at least his dog will be happy to see me.

~*~

Oh, maybe I should clarify that Rockford wasn’t being sexist or anything. Just anti-human.

~*~

Making sure Rockford has moved out of the way so I don’t have to add “manslaughter of most generous Rockfrod” to my CV, I put the car in reverse.

~*~

He [Rockford] slides his phone into his pocket. “This is a coincidence.” I was thinking more like a cosmic joke, but okay.

~*~

Countless hours spent reading and watching my favorite romance stories, and I just can’t deal with it in real life.

~*~

And now, the mercy punch:

Rockford raises his eyebrows and rolls over, picking up his tablet. “Note to self,” he says, typing something on the screen. “Buy June more books.” I slap the book hard on the ground and tackle him, pinning him beneath me.

and this is how you get the girl!

Needless to say that Rockford made it to My Bookish Boyfriend list, right?

What I liked about Penny’s characters is that they were all so real. Not even the most generous Rockford was forced. They were natural, funny, boring… Always exactly what they were supposed to be. I just wish I had spent more time with Blake. What a man…

I think another book deserves to have him as a star. #sutilwish #please

Oh, I admit that there are some loose ends on this book, but nothing that bothered me. And you know what this means.

I really fell hard for this one.

Anyway, if you are a Jane Austen or Brontë fan, you just need to read this book. YOU HAVE TO.

That’s it! Thanks so much for reading and, once again, thanks so much to Joy, for warming my heart with a lovely and perfect book ❤