Book Review: Monday by E. L. Todd

WARNING: This review, while not explicit, references sexual content that may not be appropriate for all readers.

As noted in previous posts, I don't typically gravitate toward the romance genre. However, I have a  very close friend whose wife is an author and has published a large volume of novels across multiple genres. Even so, I had yet to read anything by her, and felt like a terrible bookworm and an even worse supporter of her authorship. When I received an email from the BookBub organization (SIDENOTE: If you read eBooks and have not yet signed up at bookbub.com, go there now!) that featured one of her titles, I took it as a sign that I needed to get my act together and read her work.

Monday by E. L. Todd is the first in a seven-book romance series that details the development of the differing and multiple relationships of characters whose lives all intertwine in many ways. This first book in the series details the happenstances between this books two main characters, Francesca and Hawke. Francesca notices Hawke as the mysterious and handsome stranger who frequents the coffee shop in which she works. Even though the attraction between them grows into an eventual first date, they realize that perhaps things between them are not what they thought they could be. But when their paths recross later in unsuspecting ways, they are forced with the reality of figuring out who they are, what they are, and where their relationship stands through both the mundane functions of every day life as well as the hardships that are brought their way.

I greatly enjoy books with narratives told from multiple characters. This narration is told from the point of view of both characters where the chapters randomly alternate between her narrations and his in sometimes uneven proportions.  This back-and-forth narration provides the reader insight into both characters' frame of mind at different points in the story, but does not allow the reader omniscience about every detail of these characters lives and feelings. Todd creates a nice balance of the information revealed to the reader while still holding back enough detail to keep the plot moving forward and the reader guessing where the two may end up.

Within the first 70 pages, I was somewhat underwhelmed by the character development and the voice. Much of the story up to that point seemed cliche and shallow. The first handful of chapters are all told exclusively from Francesca's point of view, and the premise of the beginning of the story - meet in a coffee shop, daydream about encounters with him, ask out the handsome stranger, hook up on the first date when sparks fly - all seemed too familiar to really get deep into the story for me. Perhaps I am a love-pessimist of sorts (which could be a large contributing factor to why I don't read more in the romance genre) but I just couldn't bring myself to care much about what happened next, as it seemed I already felt like I knew how it would play out.

However, when the narrative point of view switched over to Hawke I was drawn back in. His back story and voice seemed much more complex and interesting to me. His character trope, though, was not new. He very much reminded me of an Edward Cullen (from Stephenie Meyer's The Twilight Saga) meets Christian Grey (from E. L. James' Fifty Shades Trilogy). Hawke comes off as somewhat angsty due to his childhood experiences which he pinpoints as the sole contributing factor of making him the man he believes he has become. Even so, he still holds the attractively secretive mystique that keeps women interested in him, even when he doesn't show interest in them. Despite these seemingly cliche character traits, Todd develops,  through his characterization, a richer backstory than that of Francesca by incorporating more pronounced character flaws that Hawke is all too aware of which stem from familial trauma growing up that he cannot seem to break from. Overall, I found myself much more intrigued by his chapters than Francesca's, but both became much more interesting once I got more character development.

The most off-putting part of the book for me was the explicit sexual descriptions of the encounters between Francesca and Hawke. These scenes seemed out of place in comparison to the rest of the story. Their placement throughout the book seemed somewhat forced as if this sort of explicit language and detail was placed there to pander to a more specific genre or audience. My adversity to these parts of the book could, too, stem from the fact that the author is married to one of my lifelong friends of 20+ years. Therefore, while reading these scenes, it made me extremely uncomfortable because I could not get that fact out of my head. The characters are clearly fictitious creations of Todd's mind, and neither Hawke nor his life story are nothing like my friend in any way, but even so I could not get past this detail in an attempt to read the scenes simply for what they were on the page.

SEMI-SPOILER ALERT: The end of the story leaves off at a cliff hanger that leaves the reader wondering as to where the relationship of Hawke and Francesca will lead. The pivotal moment in their relationship where, seemingly out of nowhere, one leaves the other, ends the story with the reader feeling a need to know what happens in the following books in the series. While I never read any of the Fifty Shades Trilogy, I did watch the first movie that was released in 2015, and the ending of Monday felt very similar to how the film version of Fifty Shades of Grey ended off. I can only assume that this sort of what-happens-next cliffhanger is characteristic of romance series novels.

That being said, I have yet to decide if I will continue the rest of the books in the series. While I definitely would like to know where the characters find themselves in the preceding books, and while I am also interested in the other characters and relationships that develop throughout the series, I am still not hooked into the romance genre as a whole. Call me a curmudgeon, but I'm definitely no romantic at heart which makes it hard for me to enjoy this genre of literature in the same ways that I seem to devour other genres. I have, however, recently downloaded another title - Soul Catcher by E. L. Todd - and look forward to seeing how her work in a different genre plays out for me.