Karina Halle

Love, in English

To a restless dreamer like Vera Miles, it sounded like the experience of a lifetime. Instead of spending her summer interning for her astronomy major, she would fly to Spain where she'd spend a few weeks teaching conversational English to businessmen and women, all while enjoying free room and board at an isolated resort. But while Vera expected to get a tan, meet new people and stuff herself with wine and paella, she never expected to fall in love. Mateo Casalles is unlike anyone Vera has ever known, let alone anyone she's usually attracted to. While Vera is a pierced and tatted free spirit with a love for music and freedom, Mateo is a successful businessman from Madrid, all sharp suits and cocky Spanish charm. Yet, as the weeks go on, the two grow increasingly close and their relationship changes from purely platonic to something more.

Noelia Abreu

I read this basically because it's set in Spain and I was curious how that was gonna play out. I liked it, a bit cheesy sometimes and I didn't really connected with the characters but it was fun reading about these little spanish things idk.

Camila 

This book was cute, but I don't really have much to say about it. 
I read Where Sea Meets Sky and Racing The Sun, before reading this one, even if chronologically this one comes first, because is about Vera, who is Josh's sister (WSMS). I felt like Halle's writing improved a lot from this book to WSMS and RTS, but I still enjoyed. 
Vera was nice, funny and the kind of girl I would love to be friends with. I loved her relationship with Josh, and I loved her friendship with Claudia and Ricardo. 
Mateo was so nice too, like seriously a nice guy and I enjoyed her love with Vera. He did the right think when he fell in love. 

This book could have been problematic, because of the age of the characters, their relationship status and a lot of other things, but I feel like Halle handled it pretty nicely. 

Halle has definetly become one of my favorite contemporary authors; I LOVE HOW SHE TAKES ME TO CITIES/COUNTRIES I HAD NEVER BEEN AND MAKES ME LOVE THEM. D
Now I'm more excited than ever to live in Spain next year, let's see if I find my own Mateo (without all the problems, please haha)

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    "You can't fall in love in a week," I told her heatedly.
"You can fall in love in a second," she said with a snap of her fingers. "The heart has no regard for time."
  

Is there anyone who writes complicated, inconvenient, perfectly imperfect love like Karina Halle? I think not. Vera and Mateo's story won't be for everyone because of the cheating, but if you can open your mind enough to get past that, you will fall in love with these characters and their love. My review won't begin to do justice to this book, but I'm going to try anyhow. 

  
    "You burn so brightly," he said, his voice low and rough to raise the hair on my arms. "I would like to burn with you."
  

Vera is a free spirit who yearns for more from life. She embraces an opportunity to go to Spain to spend her summer teaching English to a group of men and women. She expects to have fun in the sun, maybe hook up with a hot guy or two, and just experience life. She doesn't except to fall in love. But she meets Mateo on the bus and feels a spark with him immediately. They quickly become friends and, while she's attracted to him and it's obvious there's something between them, she can't allow herself to give in. He's married and that's a line she isn't going to cross. 

  
    "You are my star," he murmured. "You are my Estrella."
  

Oh, Mateo. I don't have words for what this man did to me. A former soccer player turned businessman, he was smoking fucking hot. But more than sexy, he was sweet and caring. Yes, he was married, but it was obvious the relationship with his wife was less than ideal. The chemistry he and Vera had was absolutely out of this world. But it was more than just sex. They had a fantastic friendship and bonded in a way that was special before it became an epic love story. 

  
    "You're married!" I yelled. "I cannot be the other woman!"
"You already are the other woman!" he yelled right back. His words smashed into me, blowing me to smithereens. He cupped my face in his hands. "You already are, whether you want to be or not. You've bewitched me, Vera. You've blinded me. You've made me forget my vows. And all you had to do was shine." He swallowed hard, his eyes piercing into me. "Do you not know how I feel about you?"
  

The more time Mateo and Vera spend together as friends, the closer they became to each other, the more they tried to fight it, the more apparent it was they were meat to be together. Their souls called to each other. They were such special characters and the relationship they had was just what the other needed at the time. He showed her that she was worthy of love. She showed him he didn't have to settle for what he currently had. 

  
    "You keep saying we are impossible," he said. "But you don't have enough faith. You have faith in the stars, but not in us."
  

Love isn't easy. Especially when there's an ocean between you and the person you're in love with. The chapters after Vera left Spain were filled with painful moments and difficult choices. And lots of emotions from yours truly. This is where I leave with you with the plot. You just have to read Vera and Mateo's story to fully appreciate it. Theirs wasn't an easy journey, but my god it was beautiful. 

  
    "You made me stop chasing the days. You made me hold onto them."
  

Love, In English is, without a doubt, my favorite Karina Halle book so far. This book had the unforgettable characters and flawlessly beautiful writing I've come to expect from her, there was just something more to this story. It was emotional and sexy and I haven't stopped thinking about it since I finished it. This is one of the best books I've read this year and I'm certain it will be on my favorites list at the end of 2014.

Absolute perfection. I can't recommend it highly enough. This is one of those times where I wish I gave more than 5 stars. I'd give this one 500 Estrellas if I could.

Lacey

Also posted at Booklovers For Life

“Love is like a thief, it robs you of all thought and logic, and all you have left is a heart that you can only pray is strong enough to survive the rest.”

I read Love, in English the moment it appeared on my kindle and I couldn’t. stop. reading. I literally had to force myself to stop when it was 2 AM and by then I was around halfway done. God, this book did a number on me. I can’t stop thinking about it–my mind and heart are still in a jumble of a mess right now. All I really want to say is the I love this book so freaking hard. Love, in English has become one of the best books, the best romances, I have read this year yet, and it’ll most likely stay that way because, simply put, this book is phenomenal.

“You can fall in love in a second,” she said with a snap of her fingers. “The heart has no regard for time.”

First, let’s talk a little bit about forbidden love! Yes, as you can see from the blurb, our heroine, Vera Miles, falls in love with a married man. A married man, you say??? Yes, yes, a married man. This is a touchy subject, but it’s one I felt Karina Halle handled flawlessly. I normally stay far, far away from books that involve cheating, and only very, very few books have made me fall in love with the story and characters. Love, in English is one of them. So if you’re wary of the cheating aspect of the book, I would say to not turn your back on it just yet.

The thing about Love, in English is that it is so much more than just a forbidden romance. The very essence of this book is not the forbidden part, but the love part. Vera goes to Spain to teach English to a group of Spanish native speakers, and there she discovers more about herself and about love than she could ever have dreamed of. She thought she was fairly okay with her life up until her trip to Spain, where she meets new people who “get” her. She doesn’t have to pretend with these group of Spaniards and Anglos, who welcome her with open arms, something she never had at home.

“You are lonely, but you say you like to be alone.”
I nodded. “I do. I prefer it. But… it doesn’t mean I don’t want someone to love me.” My eyes stung, as if tears were on their way. I bit my lip, debating if I should say more. “It doesn’t mean that I don’t have a lot of love in me to give someone.”

And along the way of this self-discovery, Vera actually falls in love… but it just so happens that he’s married. And what I love most about Vera, besides her kickass attitude and her awesome tattoos, is that she knows what she feels for Mateo is wrong. She knows there would be consequences and was very adamantly against having any feelings for him. And it certainly is wrong to act on those feelings, but what she feels for Mateo is something completely different. As she spends more time with Mateo, talking with him, getting to know him, her feelings blossom into something… beautiful. And it is very obviously reciprocated by Mateo.

“What is love? In English.”
I raised my brows. “Love, in English, is love?”
“What is it in Spanish?”
I was so enthralled by his hypnotic eyes, I could barely remember. “Amore?”
He shook his head ever so slightly. “No. Love in Spanish is you.”

Cue the blubbers!!! My heart was seriously bursting here. *sigh*

But but but… heartbreak is like a dark cloud hanging over Vera and Mateo. If they had only met under different circumstances, then a love this theirs would have been the most wondrous, glorious thing. But they didn’t, so what can actually come out of a love between the two of them?

“You and I, we were always a memory in the making.”

Cue the goddamn tears!! Karina Halle is so powerful with her words. I could feel the heartbreak, the anguish, but most of all, the love between Vera and Mateo. And another thing Karina Halle so eloquently expresses in this book? Spain. It was like I was taken into another world, a special place designated to Mateo and Vera for falling in love. And I was rooting for them every single second. They were two people falling in love at the wrong time, but there was no doubt that the two of them were meant for each other, meant to be with each other. I had no idea what direction Karina Halle would have the two of them take, but everything was honest, heartbreaking, breathtaking, and real.

“But love makes you an optimist,” she said. “That is what love is. It is hope for the future. Love doesn’t want you to lose faith, to view the world darkly, to have no hope. Love makes you believe in the impossible. That is the meaning of the word.”

All in all, Love, in English was one beautiful book. It made me laugh, made me cry, made me hurt, and made me feel nearly every emotion out there known to man. I was gasping one moment, and tearing up in the next, but every single second I was falling more and more in love with the book. This is without a doubt one of the best romances I have ever read, and I wish every single person out there gave Love, in English a chance.

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Love, in English

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