Title: Acting on Impulse Series: Love on Cue #1
Author: Mia Sosa
Published: September 19, 2017
Genre(s): Romance: Contemporary
Page Count: 400
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:After a very public breakup with a media-hungry politician, fitness trainer Tori Alvarez escapes to Aruba for rest, relaxation, and copious amounts of sex on the beach—the cocktail, that is. She vows to keep her vacation a man-free zone but when a cute guy is seated next to her on the plane, Tori can’t resist a little harmless flirting.
Hollywood heartthrob Carter Stone underwent a dramatic physical transformation for his latest role and it’s clear his stunning seat mate doesn’t recognize the man beneath the shaggy beard and extra lean frame. Now Carter needs help rebuilding his buff physique and Tori is perfect for the job. It doesn’t hurt that she makes his pulse pound in more ways than one.
Sparks are flying, until a pesky paparazzo reveals Carter’s identity. Tori is hurt and pissed. She wants nothing to do with another man in the limelight, but she’s still got to whip him into shape. Can Carter convince Tori he’s worth the threat to her privacy that comes with dating a famous actor, or will Tori chisel him down to nothing before he even gets the chance?
Mia Sosa’s Acting on Impulse is a down-to-earth contemporary romance that focuses on the less glamorous aspects of being a celebrity. Overall, I think the book started off great, but as the plot progressed, the story felt more and more patched together, and the pacing was never quite right. I enjoyed this book, but I wouldn’t consider it a favorite.
INITIAL CHEMISTRY AND HUMOR
I was hooked on this book within the first page, when Carter steps onto a plane and knows that his seatmate, Tori, is going to be his wife one day. This seems a little bit like insta-love, but Sosa portrays it with enough humor that it’s not nearly as over the top as it might sound.
From there, Tori and Carter wind up at the same beach resort in Aruba, and they hang out. Their interactions are light, flirty, and easy. The two leads obviously have chemistry, and they enjoy teasing each other and spending time doing various vacation activities. It’s all good so far, but there is (obviously) a hitch: Carter is a semi-famous actor in disguise, and Tori hasn’t recognized him yet.
When she does realize who her new love interest is, Tori hops on a plane back to the States, hoping never to see Carter again. She can’t believe he lied to her, she does not want to be in the spotlight, etc. Time to move on!
Until Carter (who can’t stop thinking about Tori), shows up in Tori’s gym, and hires her as his personal trainer.
THE ACTUAL RELATIONSHIP TAKES FOREVER TO GET GOING
The majority of Acting on Impulse takes place over a four-week period as Carter tries to get in shape for a new part he’s auditioning for. The tone and atmosphere completely change from the breezy Aruba chapters, and not for the better. The chemistry between the leads either dies off or never made it back from Aruba. It’s not that Sosa’s writing dips in quality here so much as the book stopped being a pleasure to read.
I understand that this book isn’t actually all that long, but boy did it feel long. There’s not much going on between Tori and Carter, beyond some sexy workout montages and some vague references to Tori’s family issues. I’m not saying I wanted more drama (heaven forbid!), but before long, the book got monotonous, and I wasn’t sure that the couple was really moving forward.
SLAP-DASH RESOLUTIONS ARE NOT SATISFYING
Eventually, it all comes to a head. Unlike most romances, this book doesn’t crystalize into a single Dark Moment that the protagonists must work through—and I think maybe that was the problem. Rather, the last few chapters of Acting on Impulse see a variety of issues arise, only to be summarily dealt with and dismissed. Since real life doesn’t just nicely pre-package problems for you to deal with one at a time, I wasn’t particularly enthused by how the characters (mostly Tori) resolved conflict. Or rather, I wasn’t happy with how the author introduced conflict and then directed her characters to engage with it.
Particularly disappointing was the entire side-plot dealing with Tori’s messy Puerto Rican family. There are a couple of scenes in the middle section of the novel that introduce some tensions between Tori and her sister. Those tensions are summarily erased by a single, therapy-style conversation while the two are preparing plantains for mofongo. Far be it from me to deny the sacred powers of mofongo, but that’s not realistic. A long-standing, bitter feud between siblings is not resolved in a 20-minute conversation. It’s just not.
Then, of course, there’s the Grand Gesture that comes at the end, which really didn’t work for me at all. It was flashy and strangely out of character for Tori. I realize that the point was that she was working on getting comfortable with being in the limelight as a compromise, to make her relationship with Carter workable, but also…why did she have to give up her right to privacy? That was a big sacrifice, and honestly, I didn’t see Carter making comparable sacrifices for their relationship.
IN THREE WORDS: COULD’VE BEEN BETTER
After finishing Acting on Impulse and sitting with it for a while, I’m not as pleased with it as I wanted. While I loved the original dynamic of the first chapter, where a smitten and charming actor chases a prickly Latina, that initial impression did not turn out to match the majority of the book. My main complaints were that the pacing was uneven, the emotional stakes were too low, and the story did not wrap up realistically.
