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oceanwriter's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I’m always in the mood to pick up a romcom or two around Christmastime. I pick carefully as I’m finicky in the genre. Given I enjoyed The Holiday Swap, I figured another Maggie Knox book would be a safe bet. Sadly, I wasn’t invested this time around.
Both hoping to make their break into the Nashville music world, Sadie and Max fake a relationship for the sake of their fans after they get paired up for a duet on the reality show Starmaker. It’s a rouse neither are sure they can keep up given their distaste for one another. But is it possible that there could be more there after all?
I retained very little about this book if I’m being brutally honest. I didn’t care about the characters or the plot. The vibes were good but I wasn’t feeling it. I do remember chuckling at a couple of the lines, but I couldn’t tell you what they were. Nothing was memorable for me aside from a strange time jump I should have been expecting but wasn’t and an obnoxious amount of miscommunication. There were some cozy bits, but not enough to make up for the rest. I normally love fake dating, or maybe I used to and my taste is changing, because this is the second time in recent months that this trope has let me down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, and Death of parent
Minor: Cursing and Sexual content
atamano's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Death, Grief, and Terminal illness
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Cursing
theespressoedition's review against another edition
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Grief, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual content, Vomit, Cursing, and Alcoholism
lunep's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
Miscommunication after miscommunication, they (specially Max) kept running from each other, never hearing the other out, literally 4 or 5 times Max heard/saw/read something, took it out of context, didnt let Sadie explain herself and ran away, every time they made up they just had sex and barely spoke about the conflict. Oh, and also the cliché where one of them gets sent a link with a photo or something that leaves the other in a bad light from an anonymous source with an ominous "X is not who you think you are". So, complete bullshit all around.
In a less incensed note, the fake dating is barely there, I was reading a pdf that had 700+ pages so at first I thought "oh, the show part is just the very beginning, they will develop their relationship more" but I was WRONG, we truly were supposed to believe these two had chemistry and were falling in love with just a couple of interactions where most of the time they were arguing and the rest they were just singing, and then there's a time jump where they haven't seen much less spoken to each other in a year and when they meet again they're "breathless" and "speechless" and I just didn't feel it, I didn't care for their romance or anything, if only just once I felt excited about them being together, but after the third miscommunication I was just done, it was extremely repetitive and it was supposed to make you believe all the odds where against them but truly they just didn't speak to each other
In a less incensed note, the fake dating is barely there, I was reading a pdf that had 700+ pages so at first I thought "oh, the show part is just the very beginning, they will develop their relationship more" but I was WRONG, we truly were supposed to believe these two had chemistry and were falling in love with just a couple of interactions where most of the time they were arguing and the rest they were just singing, and then there's a time jump where they haven't seen much less spoken to each other in a year and when they meet again they're "breathless" and "speechless" and I just didn't feel it, I didn't care for their romance or anything, if only just once I felt excited about them being together, but after the third miscommunication I was just done, it was extremely repetitive and it was supposed to make you believe all the odds where against them but truly they just didn't speak to each other
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Infidelity, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, and Terminal illness
Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Cancer, Pregnancy, and Violence
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