Blog Tour Stop: Moonlight and Oranges by Elise Stephens: Review

Welcome to the next stop on the Moonlight and Oranges blog tour.  For my stop, I will be featuring my review for the book.  I hope you all are having a great time on this tour!!!!



 
Title: Moonlight and Oranges
Author: Elise Stephens
Publisher: Booktrope Editions
Publication: November 1st, 2011
Format: ebook
Pages: 220
Rating: 3/5 Stars



Goodreads Synopsis


A timeless tale of young romance.

Lorona Connelly is ready for a change from her carefully planned, bookish life. When sparks fly at a costume party, she embraces a chance for romance with the handsome Kestrin Feather. However, she quickly realizes that even love and destiny may not be enough to overcome the reality of an overprotective mother-in-law and Kestrin's long, tarnished history of relationships.

When Lorona's curiosity leads her to Kestrin's journal, doubt plagues them both with insecurities and threatens the relationship. Can true love overcome the odds, or was their whirlwind romance just a frivolous crush? Author Elise Stephens shares a journey of young love, fate, and wounded trust in the story of Lorona and Kestrin, a couple who must learn to overcome their fears to share a life together.


 My Review

   Moonlight and Oranges is a modern-day retelling of the Cupid and Psych myth.  I would not have even known about that if I didn't read the Author's note at the end of the book.  I had no clue at all.  I loved how well thought out this book was.  The author put a lot of research into it.  The story was beautifully written.  I was able to actually visualize everything around the characters.  The story, however, did have a slow start. It took me a little while to get into it.   I loved how the author based Kestrin's dreams on Lorona.  For example, her name actually comes from La Llorona "The Weeping Woman."  I didn't like the whole obsession with oranges.  I just really didn't understand it.

I really liked Lorona as a character.  After her mom left when she was little, she promised herself she would never cry again.  She never has.  That is one of the reasons Kestrin questioned if she was the one.  The one was She who Cries.  I really liked that part of the story as well.  I loved how determined she was.  No matter what happened, she would work to fix it, especially when Kestrin didn't seem to want to.   

Kestrin is pretty much a womanizer.  He has been with many women just to find the woman of his dreams.  When he meets Lorona, he believes he found the one.  He completely changes for her.  When Lorona looks into his journal, he blows up and leaves her.  Throughout the book, he questions his dreams based on what happened. Since he has been with a lot of women, he believes he no longer has the chance to be happy with one person.  I love the ending when he finally throws all that out the window and goes fine the woman that her truly loves.

Everything happened a little too fast for me in this story.  They meet one time, and BAM, they get married.  They obviously don't love each other.  He is only proposing, because he thinks she is the one.  Lorona says yes, because she feels adored.  They immediately get married and move in together.  She mistrusts him in one instant and looks in his journal.  When she fails the test, he ups and leaves her.  Most of the book, they are separated from each other.  I don't see how they could have actually fell in love.  I mean I was happy at the end that they did love each other, but it just didn't seem real. I also wish there was more character development.  I couldn't relate to the characters at all.  I wish I could have been able to see them grow and their love for each other grow.  The only time I actually felt something was at the end with the fire and hospital scene.  That was my favorite part of the whole book.



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