Title: Ruby's Misadventures with Reality
Author: Samantha Bohrman
Series: Emerald City Mystery #1
Publisher: Entangled: Select Suspense
Publication Date: July 14, 2015
Source: Netgalley
I keep finding myself drawn to books that have been inspired by fairy tales and other previously told stories. Ruby's Misadventures with Reality by Samantha Bohrman is one such title. You can probably guess from the title which story this one is based off of, but just in case you can't - it is based off of the ever popular Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. However, this one isn't much of a retelling of it. It is more inspired by it than anything.
In this story we follow along Ruby. She is a misguided girl working, as little as possible, in a law firm. We start the story with her waking up the morning after a one night stand that she cannot recall for the life of her. She only knows that is covered with purple sticky stuff, that the guy is a hunk named Noel, and they visited the dollar store to buy condoms (something she can only recall because she found the receipt for them).
The rest of the story is us following along Ruby as she stumbles through her life. We learn of her preexisting relationships and watch other relationships bud and grow. We also get to watch Ruby grow a little bit as a person through situations in life that are more or less forced up on her.
In my opinion, this book is a nice introduction to a world that I hope we do get to see more of. It explains how her town is the way it is, who the powerful forces are, who her friends are and how she knows them. Sadly though, I found the adventures she went on in this installment tended toward the dull side.
I also hope that in future books we get to see Ruby grow more. She was a bit of a free loading whinny brat throughout the story. Yes, she did grow a bit in this one, but I really wanted to see her grow more. Some of the growth that we got to see also seemed a bit forced and I wanted it to be a bit more natural feeling.
I also thought that the romantic relationships were forced and not well developed at all. That they just jumped from one place to the next without any real explanation as to how they got there. More detail to those would have been wonderful.
I give Ruby's Misadventures with Reality a solid 3 stars out of 5. I am very open to reading further installments about Ruby in the future. If nothing else, this story made me feel connected to Ruby and I want to see where things go for her and I want to watch her grow.
This review is based off of an eARC provided by the publisher, Entangled: Select Suspense, via Netgalley.
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