TBR Challenge: ‘UN REFUGIO EN KATMANDÚ’, by Ángeles Ibirika

The topic of this month is Cover Girl (a book with a pretty cover - or a horrid one)

Published: 2015

Genre: contemporary

My Rating: 2 stars

This month we have to read a book with a pretty cover, or a horrid one. I decided to choose something beautiful. As my taste is not very good, I asked someone who does not read romance novels to choose for me. I took all the romance novels in my TBR pile –in paper, not e-books. In addition, I asked this person ‘Which of these covers is the prettiest?’

This person chose two books, Un refugio en Katmandú and Odio que das.

The first one is a contemporary novel set in Nepal. It is written by a Spanish novelist who is a hit or miss for me. She said that this novel was not a romance novel, so after buying it new, I just did not feel like reading it. Therefore, it was there, in my TBR pile up until this last month.

The book is about Matthew, an American baseball player that is in Kathmandu looking for someone. You do not know who, or why or what for. You do not even know if that is his real name. The thing is that, before he has the opportunity to do whatever it is that took him to this Himalayan kingdom, they hit him and ends in a local hospital.

There, he meets Claudia, a Spanish doctor. She helps him to find a place to be, a refuge in this overcrowded town. He, little by little, tries to find out where the bad man he is looking for is. Meanwhile, Claudia falls in love with him, although she knows that anything between them is impossible. She has found out that Nepal is the place where she wants to live the rest of her life, while he is going to go back to the States as soon as he does whatever it is that took him to that country.

The best thing of this novel is the setting, Kathmandu, and a little part in which they go to the mountains. I just loved the landscape.

However, the plot was nearly non-existent, and the characters a little bit boring. It looks like nothing happens for pages and pages. In addition, the emotional and sexual part is rather cold. You do not feel the emotion in the characters. You do not see them falling in love or even lusting after each other. At the beginning, I was even wondering if she was really the heroine, he had more chemistry with other characters!

The good thing is that she avoids the two ‘kryptonites’ of Spanish romance novels. It is well written, without overabundance of adjectives, and the hero is not chauvinistic. Yes, the style is very good. It is a pity that she has not used her craft to create a more interesting novel.

The second book I read, The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas, is rather insightful for us, foreigners. It is powerful and with several sad moments. I am still trying to understand that book, so I’d rather wait and write a review in a later moment. In Spanish, because I don’t want my broken English to be misunderstood.