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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
There is a very fine line between being "grumpy" and being a complete a**hole.
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Kindle ebook
I love Emma St. Clair’s writing. Her Love Cliches series was excellent & this new spinoff is looking to be just as good.
Winnie & James are a grumpy/sunshine duo. While I’m a little tired of the grump as the hero, it’s good in this case. James has anxiety issues & I thought they were handled very well. As someone who suffers with anxiety, I think Emma got it right. That clawing, claustrophobic feel. Winnie (our sunshine) is no Mary Sue. She has bite. She’s been hurt by the one man who meant the most to her & is always a little wary. These two have to work together on James’ new business. Winnie may be the perfect employee if she can just get James to stop firing her.
I love Emma St. Clair’s writing. Her Love Cliches series was excellent & this new spinoff is looking to be just as good.
Winnie & James are a grumpy/sunshine duo. While I’m a little tired of the grump as the hero, it’s good in this case. James has anxiety issues & I thought they were handled very well. As someone who suffers with anxiety, I think Emma got it right. That clawing, claustrophobic feel. Winnie (our sunshine) is no Mary Sue. She has bite. She’s been hurt by the one man who meant the most to her & is always a little wary. These two have to work together on James’ new business. Winnie may be the perfect employee if she can just get James to stop firing her.
This was mostly successful for me.
- I always enjoy St Clair's writing
- I thought she did a fantastic job of getting the reader in James's head - you could really feeeel his anxiety building and it felt like an anvil on my own chest
- Winnie was nicely developed also. When you have a story where one party is classified as the "grump", it's easy to fall into the trap of only focusing on the growth arc of that one character. Winnie had a bit of growing to do as well and I'm glad that got some focus.
- Backstory. The difference between average romance reads and excellent reads are where there's more going on that just getting two characters from point A to B. Both Winnie and James felt fully formed. And the world around them felt fully formed also.
- The accountability was also nice. If we didn't get James introspecting on how his behaviour was not above board majority of the time, or his family checking him, or Winnie sticking up for herself I would have hated this and roasted it accordingly. But St Clair nicely balanced it all out, and it didn't feel like Winnie was putting up with being treated poorly because of attraction (a huge point of contention that I wish will travel across all romance books!). This was also helped by James's POV which was super necessary hear in giving him necessary layers, so we didn't just get him being a jerk to Winnie.
The reason this isn't 5 stars is mainly because of pacing. It felt like the book lost a lot of momentum at just over the halfway mark, and I started skimming a little. I think what helped The Buy In was there was a tangible plotline that forced the story along with the parental rights thread and timeframe. In this, it was supposed to be the launch of the brewery and that felt like a much looser plot so it didn't feel necessary to the story somehow. So around the third quarter of the book I started to feel a little bored.
I also started getting a litttttlle over James's grimpy sthick. It's a fine line between being a lovable grump and being a jerk, and while he was mostly on the right side of that line, sometimes it felt a little like he should get some proper therapy before diving in with Winnie's super soft heart.
Anyhoo, can't wait for more.
- I always enjoy St Clair's writing
- I thought she did a fantastic job of getting the reader in James's head - you could really feeeel his anxiety building and it felt like an anvil on my own chest
- Winnie was nicely developed also. When you have a story where one party is classified as the "grump", it's easy to fall into the trap of only focusing on the growth arc of that one character. Winnie had a bit of growing to do as well and I'm glad that got some focus.
- Backstory. The difference between average romance reads and excellent reads are where there's more going on that just getting two characters from point A to B. Both Winnie and James felt fully formed. And the world around them felt fully formed also.
- The accountability was also nice. If we didn't get James introspecting on how his behaviour was not above board majority of the time, or his family checking him, or Winnie sticking up for herself I would have hated this and roasted it accordingly. But St Clair nicely balanced it all out, and it didn't feel like Winnie was putting up with being treated poorly because of attraction (a huge point of contention that I wish will travel across all romance books!). This was also helped by James's POV which was super necessary hear in giving him necessary layers, so we didn't just get him being a jerk to Winnie.
The reason this isn't 5 stars is mainly because of pacing. It felt like the book lost a lot of momentum at just over the halfway mark, and I started skimming a little. I think what helped The Buy In was there was a tangible plotline that forced the story along with the parental rights thread and timeframe. In this, it was supposed to be the launch of the brewery and that felt like a much looser plot so it didn't feel necessary to the story somehow. So around the third quarter of the book I started to feel a little bored.
I also started getting a litttttlle over James's grimpy sthick. It's a fine line between being a lovable grump and being a jerk, and while he was mostly on the right side of that line, sometimes it felt a little like he should get some proper therapy before diving in with Winnie's super soft heart.
Anyhoo, can't wait for more.
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Thank you so much to Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
And honest it will be. The suggestions for ARC reviewers is to lead with the good stuff but I can't think of any to lead with. There isn't anything good about this book and I don't write that to be hateful. The writing is as if it came straight from watpad or whatever that low-key porn sight for teenage girls is. The MMC is written not as grumpy but as actually emotionally abusive. I thought it was going to be revealed that he was autistic and that was why he had such aggressive and unacceptable rage outbursts. If this man was dating a friend of mine I would sit her down to talk because I would fear for her safety. This is not a 'grumpy' character. This is a deeply irredeemable character that never should have been written that way. The author REALLY leaned into the cheesy writing and that can be fun but if you took a shot every time they mentioned 'bluffing' in this book (because it's the name of the book- get it??) then you would be drunk by the end of it. I also kept thinking 'ok maybe all this horrible treatment will be worth it because the steam will be the steamiest steam to ever steam' AND IT LITERALLY NEVER STEAMED. YOU HAD THE ONE ROOM TROPE AND NO STEAM??? That was a bigger let down than I care to admit. I am not attached to a single character in this book and that is honestly a pretty impressive accomplishment since there is almost always some random character I cling to to get me through but nope- not this time.
It also felt like the author just kept adding stuff to see what would stick- cheating boyfriend- check. one room trope? check. quirky family dynamics? check. misunderstood best friend? check. and by the end of it it was too much because nothing ever got enough.
And honest it will be. The suggestions for ARC reviewers is to lead with the good stuff but I can't think of any to lead with. There isn't anything good about this book and I don't write that to be hateful. The writing is as if it came straight from watpad or whatever that low-key porn sight for teenage girls is. The MMC is written not as grumpy but as actually emotionally abusive. I thought it was going to be revealed that he was autistic and that was why he had such aggressive and unacceptable rage outbursts. If this man was dating a friend of mine I would sit her down to talk because I would fear for her safety. This is not a 'grumpy' character. This is a deeply irredeemable character that never should have been written that way. The author REALLY leaned into the cheesy writing and that can be fun but if you took a shot every time they mentioned 'bluffing' in this book (because it's the name of the book- get it??) then you would be drunk by the end of it. I also kept thinking 'ok maybe all this horrible treatment will be worth it because the steam will be the steamiest steam to ever steam' AND IT LITERALLY NEVER STEAMED. YOU HAD THE ONE ROOM TROPE AND NO STEAM??? That was a bigger let down than I care to admit. I am not attached to a single character in this book and that is honestly a pretty impressive accomplishment since there is almost always some random character I cling to to get me through but nope- not this time.
It also felt like the author just kept adding stuff to see what would stick- cheating boyfriend- check. one room trope? check. quirky family dynamics? check. misunderstood best friend? check. and by the end of it it was too much because nothing ever got enough.