CLP Blog Tour: In Search of a Love Story

Thanks for stopping by my tour stop for In Search of a Love Story by Rachel Schurig. I was so intrigued by this book when I first heard of the CLP Blog Tour that I immediately signed up. I am so glad I did because I really enjoyed this book!

Here's the synopsis:

Emily Donovan doesn't have a romantic bone in her body.
At least, that's what her friends Ryan and Ashley keep telling her. They're convinced her bad luck with men is directly related to her life-long lack of interest in all things romantic. When Emily’s latest relationship crashes and burns, she decides to go along with her friends' plans for a romance research project. Sure, the idea that she'll have better luck if she learns about the great romances of literature and film seems a little silly, but Emily figures it can’t hurt.
In no time at all, Emily finds herself buried under a mountain of romance novels, chick flicks, and sappy love songs, hopeful that her hard work will pay off with true love. When she meets Greg, Ashley and Ryan are convinced she's found prince charming—after all, he's rich, handsome, and totally into Emily. What more could she want? And why does it seem that her friend Elliot isn't exactly happy for her?
Faced with misunderstandings, miscommunications, and a seemingly endless string of missteps, she is nevertheless determined to give true love a try. In doing so, Emily will eventually find that true romance, the kind that lasts, has little to do with stereotypes or clichés, and everything to do with finding out what's in her own heart.

I. Loved. This. Book. The plot, the characters, the way the story flowed. Just loved everything. I'll start my gushing with the story itself. It might sound like a novel you have read before, but Schurig wrote something that was fresh, interesting, and well paced. I'm a chick flick watching, romance(ish) book reading kind of girl but I definitely don't think of myself as romantic (in fact, my boyfriend had a really entertaining conversation with his co-worker about that fact just the other week) so I could see the humour and potential in this story. Was the ending kind of predictable? Sure, but that didn't bother me one bit.

Emily was a fabulous character. I want her to be my friend! She was smart, funny, down to earth, and just flawed enough to make her immensely likeable (no one likes reading about a picture perfect heroine). I loved that her job was so important to her and that Schurig made sure that came across in the story. She may not have the best taste in guys to start (Greg was just so smarmy and controlling and just...ugh) but we get to see her change and it was a wonderful evolution to read.

I felt like I was experiencing everything right along with Emily. Except when it came to Elliot. Why couldn't she see how he felt about her? Hello!?! And also Greg...blergh. As mentioned above, I was not a fan and I was yelling at Emily to wake up and realize she was better off without him! It also helped that Schurig created some excellent secondary characters. Emily's friends all filled important roles - no nonsense BFF from childhood, new girlfriend from college, gay male friend, and good guy friend - and I loved reading about them too. I know this book is part of a series so I wondered if Ashley (college friend) and Chris (guy friend), a sweet couple, will be the focus of book two. Or maybe it would be about Brooke (friend from childhood). Checking out the links for this book led me to see that book two is called An Unexpected Love Story. And, go me, it's about Brooke.

Rachel Schruig has a Three Girls series and I will definitely check those out now that I've read and loved In Search of a Love Story. I will also be reading the above mentioned An Unexpected Love Story and the third book in the series, An (Almost) Perfect Love Story (second round of applause required - it's about Ashley and Chris). In case you haven't been able to figure it out, I'll come right out and say it - I definitely recommend this novel. I adored it and think other chick lit lovers will enjoy it as well. It's cute, smart, and fun. What more can you ask for? Stay tuned over the next couple of days as I'll have a guest post from Rachel as well as a Q&A post for your reading pleasure!

Happy reading :)