A nice cover that caught my attention in the literal last minute. When I placed my application for it, I never thought that I would get lucky. As much as I like the cover of the German edition, but the novel itself turned out to be a nice story with an annoying main character. Many stereotypes were brought up and gave the novel after some chapters a touch that wasn´t really mine.
Kopf Aus, Herz An*
by Jo WatsonDestination Love Series #1
Original Title Burning Moon
Publisher LYX on June 28, 2017
Genre Novel
Pages 314
Format Softcover
Source Publisher
✶✶✶½
Lilly's worst nightmare becomes true when her fiancé leaves her in front of the wedding ceremony. But instead of putting her head in the sand, she decides to pursue the honeymoon to Thailand anyway - alone. Still in the plane, she meets the attractive Damien, who with his tattoos and the spontaneous nature is actually exactly the kind man, around Lilly would otherwise make a large bow. But now that there's nothing she holds back, she lets her take her on a journey - a journey that shows her what it means to listen to his heart and not to his head.
Story
Lilly feels as if her world is completely out of control. Why did Michael what he did to her? And why can´t she have what every other woman seems to have? Is she really asking for too much when it comes to her life, being happy, and have a family of her own? After some tears and a lonely night that was supposed to be her wedding night, she flies to Thailand and starts her honeymoon – alone. And meets a man who is the total opposite of those men she usually wants. Tattoos, dark eyes, and not at all well-groomed.
Style
Sometimes the plot seemed not really thought through. Some things didn´t convince me, others looked like they were far-fetched and some figures showed a behavior where I was asking myself if that is typical for South Africa or only the authors own weird fantasy. The idea, to have a Burning Moon party set on a location that isn´t easy access is great, no doubt. And it was fantastic to read what Lilly and Damien had to do and where to go to be finally able to enjoy that party. My mind was full of gorgeous pictures and with things, I never thought that would possible. But how the main figure acted, how she behaved, and how she showed that she had nothing really learned even after all those changes she went through, that wasn´t as fun or humorous as probably intended by the author. Sorry, but what young woman that age makes everything a drama, freaks out when life isn´t playing out the way she wants it in that way Lilly does and who has such a low if none existing self-confidence?
Life isn´t perfect. Not predictable and for sure not all sunshine and glitter. Good, Glitter is the least of Lilly´s concerns, but I am still wondering why she was acting the way she was during the entire book.
Characters
After some pages, I was literally freaking out – and not in a good way! Lilly is way too much of everything. She panics whenever she has the chance to, is prude, uptight and her thoughts are so out of control. Whenever she comes into a situation she hasn´t planned for her life or which isn´t running the way she had imagined or thought she starts to create the absolutely worst-case scenario. That is, if it happens only once, a hilarious thing for the reader, but here it was way too exaggerated.
And why on earth has a young woman, barely twenty-five to be married? What is the reason behind all this? A drama queen is nothing compared to Lilly. Don´t get me wrong, I am not against marriage, not at all. But here it seemed completely out of place. And with the reasons the author gives during the ongoing plot, it seems more and more awkward.
Damien is the complete opposite of Lilly. He has tattoos, looks like he could use a bath, does what he wants and when he wants it and is so relaxed and in peace with himself – enviable. And how he handles Lilly´s reactions to everything he suggests, does or says is really remarkable. I liked him from the start.
Conclusion
I liked the writing style the author showed. And the novel started as a wonderful story with the main figure that seemed to be a bit out of her usual comfort zone. But then the novel turned into something extreme in every possible way. Was this a slapstick comedy and I didn´t see that? Sad, but I guess it will take a while before I read another book by the author, if ever.
Happy reading
*This book was kindly provided to me by LYX in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Therefore, the cover of the German edition is shown first in this review.
*This book was published Burning Moon by Forever, on November 1, 2016
Jo Watson
Jo Watson writes romantic comedies - and very successful. In 2014, she won the Watty-Award for her debut novel Burning Moon, the reader´s choice award awarded by millions of Wattpad users each year by vote. Overall, her Wattpad stories have been read over 14 million times. Jo is an Adidas addict and a Depeche Mode devotee. She lives with her husband in South Africa.