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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
I don’t read romance novels. This is, at heart, a romance novel. Girl meets guy, has first impression, can’t stand him. Guy falls in love with her. She falls in love with him. Or maybe it’s lust. She realizes he still represents everything she can’t stand, politically. Does she dump him, or does she embrace the messy side of love?
What sets the book apart, and the aspect that caught my interest, is the issue at the center of their relationship’s crisis: the racism inherent in politics. For Jess is black and Josh is white. They are both highly intelligent. Both earned their place at college and at work. Both are good looking. But Josh is a ‘moderate’ Republican and Jess is propelled by the Black Lives Matter movement to become socially active. When she loses her position at Goldman Sachs, she takes a job at a progressive magazine, writing sensational articles about racism. Josh can’t affirm her choice. He knows that Jess could have a lucrative career like his. Their very understanding of the world set them at odds. When Jess discovers Josh has a MAGA hat, she must deeply consider their future.
It is Jess’s story, and we only know Josh through her eyes. We only know that he loves her and thinks she is beautiful and intelligent, if misguided.
Frankly, sex and attraction without shared core values isn’t my idea of a good relationship. I shuddered when I saw that a boy I casually dated in high school was resharing memes that represented my political opposite; I was glad I missed that bullet.
Jess takes a chance. But it’s inauguration day, and we all know the challenges they will have over the coming years. We are left wondering what will happen. Josh contends that he has grown and mellowed. Will he continue to grow in his understanding? Or will Jess continue to insist that “everything’s fine?”
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for a free book.
What sets the book apart, and the aspect that caught my interest, is the issue at the center of their relationship’s crisis: the racism inherent in politics. For Jess is black and Josh is white. They are both highly intelligent. Both earned their place at college and at work. Both are good looking. But Josh is a ‘moderate’ Republican and Jess is propelled by the Black Lives Matter movement to become socially active. When she loses her position at Goldman Sachs, she takes a job at a progressive magazine, writing sensational articles about racism. Josh can’t affirm her choice. He knows that Jess could have a lucrative career like his. Their very understanding of the world set them at odds. When Jess discovers Josh has a MAGA hat, she must deeply consider their future.
It is Jess’s story, and we only know Josh through her eyes. We only know that he loves her and thinks she is beautiful and intelligent, if misguided.
Frankly, sex and attraction without shared core values isn’t my idea of a good relationship. I shuddered when I saw that a boy I casually dated in high school was resharing memes that represented my political opposite; I was glad I missed that bullet.
Jess takes a chance. But it’s inauguration day, and we all know the challenges they will have over the coming years. We are left wondering what will happen. Josh contends that he has grown and mellowed. Will he continue to grow in his understanding? Or will Jess continue to insist that “everything’s fine?”
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for a free book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the advanced copy to review!
Rounded up from a 1.5/5 stars. I could not get into this book. Based on the title, description, and cover artwork, I was excited to read this novel, but this was nothing like what I expected.
My main gripe with this book is that none of the characters spoke or acted like real, actual, human people. I'd be hard-pressed to find a single conversation where the characters actually said what they meant or were actually thinking. This drives the central conflict in the story, which could have been avoided (or written better) if the characters actually had a singular meaningful conversation instead of kind of, maybe, sort of saying what they meant. These are adults, but they act like toddlers who do not know how to function in society. Josh is ONLY attracted to Jess based on her looks, which he points out constantly throughout the novel. Instead of appreciating her intellect, thoughts, or opinions, he always gets out of an argument by telling her how pretty she is. You can't love someone or be connected to them on a cellular level (or whatever BS Josh was spilling) if you literally can't appreciate that person, yet Jess falls for it every time.
This all comes to a head at the end of the novel when Trump is inaugurated. Josh once again pushes Jess' feelings and opinions to the side and while Jess is in utter turmoil, the book just ends. Did she learn anything from the past few years of "dating" Josh? Who knows, because the book just ends with no resolution. It left me wondering what the actual point of the novel was. There are no lessons learned. There is really no real ending. We are left with a character that really hasn't grown much in the entirety of the novel and is in the same spot as before. So what was the point of this story? Because as a reader, I'm really struggling to understand why this book was even written at all.
In my opinion, I would skip this book. The characters are so unrelatable they don't seem real and nothing gets resolved in the end. It is just frustrating to read.
Rounded up from a 1.5/5 stars. I could not get into this book. Based on the title, description, and cover artwork, I was excited to read this novel, but this was nothing like what I expected.
My main gripe with this book is that none of the characters spoke or acted like real, actual, human people. I'd be hard-pressed to find a single conversation where the characters actually said what they meant or were actually thinking. This drives the central conflict in the story, which could have been avoided (or written better) if the characters actually had a singular meaningful conversation instead of kind of, maybe, sort of saying what they meant. These are adults, but they act like toddlers who do not know how to function in society. Josh is ONLY attracted to Jess based on her looks, which he points out constantly throughout the novel. Instead of appreciating her intellect, thoughts, or opinions, he always gets out of an argument by telling her how pretty she is. You can't love someone or be connected to them on a cellular level (or whatever BS Josh was spilling) if you literally can't appreciate that person, yet Jess falls for it every time.
This all comes to a head at the end of the novel when Trump is inaugurated. Josh once again pushes Jess' feelings and opinions to the side and while Jess is in utter turmoil, the book just ends. Did she learn anything from the past few years of "dating" Josh? Who knows, because the book just ends with no resolution. It left me wondering what the actual point of the novel was. There are no lessons learned. There is really no real ending. We are left with a character that really hasn't grown much in the entirety of the novel and is in the same spot as before. So what was the point of this story? Because as a reader, I'm really struggling to understand why this book was even written at all.
In my opinion, I would skip this book. The characters are so unrelatable they don't seem real and nothing gets resolved in the end. It is just frustrating to read.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Woah. I loved this book so much. The writing is incredible. The character of Jess is so complex end relatable and lovable. I completely agree with the other reviews though that I would not market this book as a romance. I don't know if it's a horror but it's so much complex. The ending is also not a happy ending which is heartbreaking.
Jess's perspective and hearing about all the barriers she faces (which I'm not going to lie aren't things I consider on a day to basis as a white woman) are so valuable. I adore Jess. I think my general take on her is that she has lived her whole life being discrimated against and like the book just showed Jess's point of view that when you have lived you are so much more guarded and have to live being so much more defensive.Like I feel like Josh thought she "kept pulling the race card" (ick sorry) but once you've read inside her mind and see her experiences like of course she's completely justified.
I think I got to about like 70-80% through the book and wanted everything with Josh to be ok. I loved that Jess was in love and I wanted her to be happy. I wanted him to end up being a good person and being the right person for Jess. Like until that point I winced at things both of them said but wanted them to work through it.
However. As it turns out. Josh is an inconsiderate, selfish ignorant arsehole with absolutely no desire to learn about anyone else's perspective or experience.
When Jess lists what the maga hat means to her, it was so so so so so moving. Honestly like I think I thought it must have been that Josh couldn't hear it because it was in her head because I can't imagine hearing all that and then keeping it in the house. And not even because he can't be a republican but because of what that means to her. Honestly I thought comparing the hat to the BLM t-shirt was (to use Josh's own words) a false equivalency. Yes they are both political symbols but the hat has been used as a racist symbol and while being racist while BLM is what, fighting for justice and equality? It also made me so so so so sad when Josh makes the comment to Jess about how he can't be racist because he has 1 black friend (her) and that's one more than what she has. Firstly. Such a hurtful comment. Yeah Dax makes a good point that it would be so good for Jess to have friends around her that she didn't need to explain things to. But that's not her being racist. Like that's also an issue with society. She's a mathematician. In finance. Where is Jess meeting these black women? She isn't. Because they are staggeringly unrepresented. And actually even that point should be an arguement for positive action. Also didn't we establish like 20 years ago that "I'm not racist I have a black friend" is not a defence to racist actions. On that though. I loved that Jess's actual friends were supportive and good people and I loved the relationship which developed between Barbara and Jess (also Jess's dad!!!! I loved him.)
As a segue between the relationship between Barbara and Jess and what I thought was she hardest bit of the book until everything that came after it.... Poor Jess is really depressed after her dad dies and starts taking pills and I think she says that she doesn't want to die she just wants to disappear and it really hit me hard. I think she even sets an alarm every 2 hours on her phone to wake herself up so she doesn't die. Broke my heart really quite a lot.
Ultimatly Josh and Jess reconcile but as I have already said, Josh makes no attempt to grow as a person or like be open to other peoples views and the book just turns into this horror show where you just want to scoop Jess up and protect her because honestly, I felt like she was being abused. Josh even makes this horrible fucking comment about how Jess has "mellowed out". Which I really really hated. And poor Jess resolves to stay with awful Josh because she loves him. It's really hard and actually links to this other book I read where is was talking about how it's not only love that sustains a relationship and it really made me think. Like in Jess's situation, she does love Josh and Josh well. Josh thinks she's hot and likes having her around. But that can't sustain that relationship.
Basically the book was so so so good and I would really recommend it to anyone but I really would read with caution. Like my take on it really was that Josh was abusive so you need to be careful with that and there is a particularly dark chapter where Jess is really really struggling with depression and that is quite graphic.
Jess's perspective and hearing about all the barriers she faces (which I'm not going to lie aren't things I consider on a day to basis as a white woman) are so valuable. I adore Jess. I think my general take on her is that she has lived her whole life being discrimated against and like the book just showed Jess's point of view that when you have lived you are so much more guarded and have to live being so much more defensive.
I think I got to about like 70-80% through the book and wanted everything with Josh to be ok. I loved that Jess was in love and I wanted her to be happy. I wanted him to end up being a good person and being the right person for Jess. Like until that point I winced at things both of them said but wanted them to work through it.
However. As it turns out. Josh is an inconsiderate, selfish ignorant arsehole with absolutely no desire to learn about anyone else's perspective or experience.
When Jess lists what the maga hat means to her, it was so so so so so moving. Honestly like I think I thought it must have been that Josh couldn't hear it because it was in her head because I can't imagine hearing all that and then keeping it in the house. And not even because he can't be a republican but because of what that means to her. Honestly I thought comparing the hat to the BLM t-shirt was (to use Josh's own words) a false equivalency. Yes they are both political symbols but the hat has been used as a racist symbol and while being racist while BLM is what, fighting for justice and equality? It also made me so so so so sad when Josh makes the comment to Jess about how he can't be racist because he has 1 black friend (her) and that's one more than what she has. Firstly. Such a hurtful comment. Yeah Dax makes a good point that it would be so good for Jess to have friends around her that she didn't need to explain things to. But that's not her being racist. Like that's also an issue with society. She's a mathematician. In finance. Where is Jess meeting these black women? She isn't. Because they are staggeringly unrepresented. And actually even that point should be an arguement for positive action. Also didn't we establish like 20 years ago that "I'm not racist I have a black friend" is not a defence to racist actions. On that though. I loved that Jess's actual friends were supportive and good people and I loved the relationship which developed between Barbara and Jess (also Jess's dad!!!! I loved him.)
As a segue between the relationship between Barbara and Jess and what I thought was she hardest bit of the book until everything that came after it.... Poor Jess is really depressed after her dad dies and starts taking pills and I think she says that she doesn't want to die she just wants to disappear and it really hit me hard. I think she even sets an alarm every 2 hours on her phone to wake herself up so she doesn't die. Broke my heart really quite a lot.
Ultimatly Josh and Jess reconcile but as I have already said, Josh makes no attempt to grow as a person or like be open to other peoples views and the book just turns into this horror show where you just want to scoop Jess up and protect her because honestly, I felt like she was being abused. Josh even makes this horrible fucking comment about how Jess has "mellowed out". Which I really really hated. And poor Jess resolves to stay with awful Josh because she loves him. It's really hard and actually links to this other book I read where is was talking about how it's not only love that sustains a relationship and it really made me think. Like in Jess's situation, she does love Josh and Josh well. Josh thinks she's hot and likes having her around. But that can't sustain that relationship.
Basically the book was so so so good and I would really recommend it to anyone but I really would read with caution. Like my take on it really was that Josh was abusive so you need to be careful with that and there is a particularly dark chapter where Jess is really really struggling with depression and that is quite graphic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racism
Honestly? Stupid. Jess is like a perpetual 2020 Portland hs fem bi girl that reposts Democracy Now! Infographics on her Instagram story. Josh is just a dickhead like I really 0% liked him. I get they are both nerds of whatever but they honestly have no business dating. Also a book about not stereotyping making the richest stock broker an old Jewish man is very on the nose. Thankful for this book for reminding me math is gross and evil.
challenging
emotional
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:
Complicated
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Death of parent
I couldn't tell how I felt about josh and jess, but for someone who wants to go down the road of working in the same field—I gathered that I wouldn't like what I do morally as much as I would have wanted to. Regarding the relationship, it just felt like attachment. She needed to lean more on herself, stand her ground. What good is a relationship if everytime your partner opens his mouth you feel nauseated- you have to feel conscious of the words that you'll hear next, you can't extend your opinions because they'd be framed as extreme and the struggles of your ancestors are taken so lightly in the apparent casual banter among his friends.