Review: Under the Influence

Under the Influence by Karina May
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 50%.

This felt like several different attempts at a book all thrown together and creating some kind of greige gloop.

First off there's the guy that broke Tinder trying to raise money for clean water in Peru, Blake, who gets dragged home to try to save his family's restaurant after the death of his philandering father. Then there's Louise, a hot-shot banker who refuses Blake's loan request when he approaches her bank.

Feathers (I think that's her name) is possibly Blake's half-sister, she's been singing in Blake's family restaurant (badly) but also set up her own new-age juice/smoothie bar aimed at the social media influencer demographic. Feathers might be flakier than a Cadbury's Flake but she knows her market and she is selling trips to Peru (I can't remember why) and asks Blake to assist for a share in the profits. Meanwhile, Louise is having a crisis of confidence and decides on a trip to Peru to 'find herself'.

Is this a small town Australia enemies to lovers/opposites attract? Who knows. At 50% the pair have only just reached Peru, they've barely interacted and from what I read the romance doesn't happen until the last 5% of the book. At the very least I think the cover is misleading because it suggests a contemporary romance which the book has failed to deliver.

I'm in a 'take no prisoners' kind of mood, DNF at 61%.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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