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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
This is me being generous.
To be bluntly honest, I had to grit my teeth to get through a book with such an unlikeable and frustrating main character.
The good parts of the book were all Ben-related: Ben is a dream boyfriend. He is handsome, witty, makes the first move, knows what he wants and the intimate scenes between him and Charlie were very hot. His presence was this story's saving grace.
That's because I really, really didn't like Charlie. Where to begin? The guy's personality can be summarized in a spiral of self-pity and self-hatred: "I don't deserve anything", "What I want doesn't matter", "Having a kid means I have no right to a life", "Why don't my shitty homophobic parents like me? Surely I'm the one at fault", "Why would Ben want me despite having told me around 20 times that he does want me?"
I can go on and on. And not only that, but we have to read endless version of the same dialogue. Charlie pitying/hating himself, Ben telling him that he deserves nice things and no, having a job and a kid doesn't mean he can't date him, Charlie believing him until they have sex, and then going back to the same thoughts. And repeat. Again and again.
It's annoying, tiring and make me wonder what Ben saw in Charlie, because this type of personality is beyond frustrating.
And let's conclude with my biggest issue with the book. I had left a similar comment to Boyfriend Material , which suffers from the same, inexcusable for me issue: Charlie's parents. His parents are shitty. They're pretentious, homophobic, judgmental, expect their kid to live the life they themselves imagine and don't accept him.
And yet we don't see ANYONE standing up to them. Not even the "supporting" brother or the "cool" aunt. Everybody accepts that this type of pretentious high-class behaviour is something to be disregarded. Charlie doesn't even THINK to blame them and goes back to them again and again, despite having no financial ties to them.
Even at the end, with the resolution of the story, nobody called their shit in front of them. Charlie did not cut them off. Michael (the supportive we're supposed to believe brother) never stood up for him (consoling him when he leaves crying is not the same). Ben gave them a mild speech which was more about pointing out the good thinkgs about Charlie rather than bashing them down though.
I will call out this sort of plot evey time I encounter it because it is TOXIC to see this underlying way of thinking normalized. You should not keep people who behave like that in your life, no matter if they are your parents. You should cut them off your life. End of story.
Thank you NetGalley and Entangled for the ARC.
To be bluntly honest, I had to grit my teeth to get through a book with such an unlikeable and frustrating main character.
The good parts of the book were all Ben-related: Ben is a dream boyfriend. He is handsome, witty, makes the first move, knows what he wants and the intimate scenes between him and Charlie were very hot. His presence was this story's saving grace.
That's because I really, really didn't like Charlie. Where to begin? The guy's personality can be summarized in a spiral of self-pity and self-hatred: "I don't deserve anything", "What I want doesn't matter", "Having a kid means I have no right to a life", "Why don't my shitty homophobic parents like me? Surely I'm the one at fault", "Why would Ben want me despite having told me around 20 times that he does want me?"
I can go on and on. And not only that, but we have to read endless version of the same dialogue. Charlie pitying/hating himself, Ben telling him that he deserves nice things and no, having a job and a kid doesn't mean he can't date him, Charlie believing him until they have sex, and then going back to the same thoughts. And repeat. Again and again.
It's annoying, tiring and make me wonder what Ben saw in Charlie, because this type of personality is beyond frustrating.
And let's conclude with my biggest issue with the book. I had left a similar comment to Boyfriend Material , which suffers from the same, inexcusable for me issue: Charlie's parents. His parents are shitty. They're pretentious, homophobic, judgmental, expect their kid to live the life they themselves imagine and don't accept him.
And yet we don't see ANYONE standing up to them. Not even the "supporting" brother or the "cool" aunt. Everybody accepts that this type of pretentious high-class behaviour is something to be disregarded. Charlie doesn't even THINK to blame them and goes back to them again and again, despite having no financial ties to them.
Even at the end, with the resolution of the story, nobody called their shit in front of them. Charlie did not cut them off. Michael (the supportive we're supposed to believe brother) never stood up for him (consoling him when he leaves crying is not the same). Ben gave them a mild speech which was more about pointing out the good thinkgs about Charlie rather than bashing them down though.
I will call out this sort of plot evey time I encounter it because it is TOXIC to see this underlying way of thinking normalized. You should not keep people who behave like that in your life, no matter if they are your parents. You should cut them off your life. End of story.
Thank you NetGalley and Entangled for the ARC.
lighthearted
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a cute and emotional coming-of-age romance, and I was charmed by the banter and the fanfic-vibe from the beginning (yes, it's a thing, and no, I don't know how to describe it). However, if I'm brutally honest, I had to grit my teeth to get through the book, mostly because I got annoyed with the main character.
To start with the good stuff, I loved how the struggling student/ single dad/ musician Charlie had a meet-cute with the coming rock star Ben over the holidays. Charlie seemed like a sweet and funny character, even if he was a mess. Very relatable. Ben was a bit one-dimensional (perhaps because we didn't get his pov), but he was handsome, witty, made the first move, and it was refreshingly free from drama. I enjoyed the attraction and sexual tension between Charlie and Ben. Their one-night-stand-moment was mostly believable, even if some might feel like things happened quickly. Ben knew what he wanted, and the intimate scenes with Charlie were hot. In many ways, the whole thing was promising.
However, Charlie was caught in a neverending spiral of self-pity and self-hatred: "I don't deserve anything", "what I want doesn't matter", "having a kid means I have no right to a life." His insecurities were exhausting. To be fair, it was mostly realistic, at least in the beginning. I could relate to how overwhelming thoughts like this could be. The mental health and disability rep was not too bad. Charlie had anxiety, and was also very ADHD-coded, and/ or CPTSD-coded. Ben had dyslexia and a history of bad experiences with his ex. I liked how they supported each other, even if they struggled to communicate.
Towards the end, I found it harder and harder to believe Charlie’s stubborn doubts about himself and the relationship. To me, the story ended up being repetitive with his inner monologue, anxiety and self-punishing thoughts and actions. The dialogues were just as repetitive. Charlie kept pitying/ hating himself, Ben (and others) kept telling him that he deserved nice things and no, having a job and a kid didn't mean he couldn't date him. It was annoying, and tiring and made me wonder what Ben saw in Charlie.
And it was a reminder to self: To beat myself up and always put other people first isn’t cute. I’d like to see Charlie get this realisation earlier in the story, perhaps with the help of good friends, or therapy, or whatever. And I would have liked to get to know Ben better. This story had lots of potential with the banter and sweet moments, and some tweaks could have made the story brilliant.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
One is a struggling Single Dad/student, his struggles are about his mental health and the problems with his family.
One is a rising Rock Star, who has a thing for a barista.
I think a lot of the issues that our main character faces are things that need to be visible in literature and the author does a very good job in his struggles. Also, though our couple communicates, they're not the best at it and should really work better at it or else the stuff that happens in the story wouldn't have been such a big deal, and I'm not talking about the beginning parts where they're still learning about one another, but once they've established their relationship they should have talked more about what was happening in their lives, though throwing their ex (Ben's Ex?) at the end of the story was probably something that should have been introduced earlier in the story.
Overall I loved the story just as much as An Unexpected Kind of Love, though I may have missed how the stories are connected, or it could just be that it's been a while since I read the first book in the series and need a refresh.
One is a rising Rock Star, who has a thing for a barista.
I think a lot of the issues that our main character faces are things that need to be visible in literature and the author does a very good job in his struggles. Also, though our couple communicates, they're not the best at it and should really work better at it
Overall I loved the story just as much as An Unexpected Kind of Love, though I may have missed how the stories are connected, or it could just be that it's been a while since I read the first book in the series and need a refresh.
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced