The Real Thing

The Real Thing by Cassie Mae 3.5 STARS

Synopsis
Eric Matua has one friend—his best friend and childhood sweetheart, who needs a place to stay for the summer. Mia Johnson has thousands of friends—who live in her computer. Along with her email chats and Facebook notifications, Mia also devours romance novels, spending countless hours with fictional characters, dreaming of her own Romeo to sweep her off her feet. When she starts receiving supersweet messages from a stranger who thinks she’s someone else, Mia begins to believe that real love is possible outside her virtual world. 
When the two friends become roommates, Mia finds herself falling harder than she ever thought she could. But Eric keeps his desires locked away, unsure of himself and his ability to give his best friend what she deserves in a boyfriend. As her advances are continually spurned, Mia splits her time between Eric and her computer. But she soon realizes she’s about to lose the only real thing she’s ever had.
* Copy provided by netgalley for honest review

Genre: New Adult
Overall Thoughts:  Sweet and lovely Romance between friends 
Characters: Emilia and Eric 
Page Turner: Not Really 
Series Cont.? No
Recommend if You Like…
Book Boyfriend: Eric 
Sex Scenes: Kind of. 

Overall

This is most definitely a cute, sweet and lovely friends to lovers story. While quite predictable, its very very sweet and seems appropriate given the dating these days. I struggled somewhat with certain pieces of the story. What I loved about this book was that it really focused on some topics that aren't really mentioned these days and no one has yet to bring to a forefront. Specifically the issues men have with their weight, and the way that affects them. The issue of panic attacks, how these are becoming more common but still not discussed much. Lastly, the obsession with our cell phones, Facebook, internet, social media and technology's ability to challenge us in our everyday lives with live people. Nowadays people are so obsessed with texting and talking to each other via the internet that we lose the ability to talk in person. The depth and emotion that the author was able to get into on these topics was really amazing, she brought to life and evoked genuine emotion in her character on topics I had never given much thought to

I found the interactions between Eric and Mia to all be really sweet and intimate. Their friendship and easy going relationship are so obvious and genuine, its no wonder they both have feelings for one another. I felt the entire concept of this book is extremely relatable. Who hasn't thought of their friend in that way, or questioned it. I think the problems that arose between these friends/couple are really interesting and seem typical for relationships. Figuring out whats appropriate for being a couple when you were once only friends. That line is so thin and once you cross it, its hard to know whats acceptable in the couple sense, because you are so used to the friendship. Its certainly an interesting and great idea to explore. I found the authors writing really easy to follow, understand and relate to, even when I didnt agree. Some of the choices the characters made annoyed me, but I think that in general, that they were normal issues and ways of dealing with things that couples like this would experience.


What I didnt love-
I struggled somewhat with some of the "lack" of descriptions on certain topics.  For instance, Eric was at one point "fat" and is now really toned, but still feels overweight, I could never really figure out what exactly that meant Eric looked like. For me, this was a huge downfall. I had a really hard time seeing what Eric was supposed to look like. Also, I didnt really understand what Mia really did, was she in school? Was she in massage school? And where exactly were they? Little pieces seemed to be missing for me to really get into the book completely. Also, the pacing was too slow for me. There really wasn't a need to build up their relationship for 50% of the book, it was pretty obvious they had a strong friendship way before then, so I felt that the book was just too slow, with not much happening overall. I feel like a lot happened in the last 30% though so it did even out a bit.

In the end, even though I liked the book, I didnt love it. It didnt capture my attention to the point that I couldn't put it down, and I struggled through the first 50% the pacing just felt slow. I felt that not enough was going on, and motion wasnt occurring.  I also didnt love either characters. They were likable enough, but both had their own faults that reading about just didnt pique my interests. BUT I will continue reading Cassie Maes books and YOU should too!