Edward Aubry: "Caprice"

Title: Caprice [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Edward Aubry [Facebook | Goodreads]
Genres: Thriller/Mystery, Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Year: 2012
Age: It's aimed at adults, but can be read by mature teens
Stars: 3.5/5
Pros: Fun twist on a classic trope. Great guessing game. Slightly tongue-in-cheek homage to the complexity of women.
Cons: Requires huge suspension of disbelief. Depicts a fierce case of instalove...but again, with a massive twist.
WARNING! Moderate gore.
Will appeal to: Those who are in for a fun ride. Those who enjoy having the rug constantly pulled from under their feet. 

Blurb: What if your office crush almost killed you with a kiss? Danny Marx has an innocent infatuation with the cute, quirky new girl, Caprice. When she meets him in the stairwell one day and surprises him with an unprovoked, yet passionate kiss, he thinks his fantasies have finally come true. That is until moments later when he becomes violently ill and collapses. He awakens in a hospital where Caprice tells him that the kiss contained an exotic virus designed to intentionally make him sick. She breaks him out of the hospital claiming that both of their lives are in extreme danger. Fleeing with Caprice, Danny embarks on an adventure in which nothing is what it seems. Exactly who or what is Caprice? Why are their lives in danger and who is chasing them? Can Danny trust the girl of his dreams…or has she just tossed him into a nightmare? (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I have reviewed four more books by the author so far, and I specifically requested a review copy of this one. Also, Mr. Aubry and I have exchanged a few emails, and we follow each other on Twitter. But as usual, I'm rating this book accordingly to the level of enjoyment it provided.
 

I'M EVERY WOMAN

Let's get it out of the way: the main female character is, indeed, what you would call a manic pixie dream girl. Except she's not. I can't explain you why, because if you enter this book without too much knowledge, you'll have a lot of fun, especially trying to figure out what's really happening. Plus, of course, watching the author play with the above trope and give it a totally new meaning. What I can say is - Caprice is a long, slightly humorous but heartfelt love letter to women, their infinite complexity and the many faces they come with. Maybe they still need a man to make their life complete in this case (though, well, not in the usual sense at all), but in a way, the male character is sort of a rescued would-be princess, which reverses the trope and makes it fresh and fun. [...]

WHERE WERE WE

For such a short book (just a little longer than your usual novella, with its 50,000+ words), Caprice packs a punch about adventures, mysteries and twists. Here's what the author himself told me about it in an interview:

"My second novel, Caprice, actually started as a writing exercise to see how long I could sustain a story where the genre changes every chapter. Not very long, it turned out."

To be honest, I wouldn't call it a change of genre, but it's a change for sure - I can't say more because I would royally spoil the fun for anyone interested. (Anyway, you only need to take a look at the chapter titles to find evidence of that). And mind you, when you think you're finally on solid ground...think again 😉. Or maybe you were on it before and you didn't realise?

RIDING ON A FANTASY

As far as love stories go, Caprice is fairly simplistic in a way, highly improbable in another. But as a fable (though not of the rainbows-and-unicorns variety) it works. It's even infused with a nice culture twist at the end. Not every aspect is thoroughly accounted for (there's a character who remains, for the most part, a mystery, and a phone call that doesn't get a definitive explanation), but it's highly entertaining and makes you rack your brain, which sits well with me 😁. Also, it's well written (except for the overuse of the verb "lurch" - I counted 10 instances of it 😉. It must be the beta-reader in me LOL) AND well edited. If you're looking for a crazy and adventurous blend of romance, comedy, drama and suspense where nothing is what it seems, look no further.

For my "Prelude to Mayhem" review (first installment in the Mayhem Wave series by the same author) click here.
For my review of Edward Aubry's book "Unhappenings" click here.
For my interview with Edward Aubry click here.
For more Adult books click here.

Alternate cover (paperback)