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lady_moon's review against another edition
2.75
This tired trope "I hadn't come out for any of my past partners but I'd come out for you" 😐
Anyway, after Jaime found out about Charlie and Reagon, he was a complete and total asshole and he deserved WAY harsher reaction than the girls gave him. The only good thing is that he owned it at the end.
Besides that, the writing was so shitty I just couldn't give the book more than three stars. The pace also was... not it. I feel like I don't have the right to complain since I pick up the book only because it's rather short but... the things between Charlie and Reagon progressed fast. But besides these stuff, everything else was pretty decent.
Anyway, after Jaime found out about Charlie and Reagon, he was a complete and total asshole and he deserved WAY harsher reaction than the girls gave him. The only good thing is that he owned it at the end.
Besides that, the writing was so shitty I just couldn't give the book more than three stars. The pace also was... not it. I feel like I don't have the right to complain since I pick up the book only because it's rather short but... the things between Charlie and Reagon progressed fast. But besides these stuff, everything else was pretty decent.
isoka's review
emotional
fast-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
4.0
sjvh's review
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
dan_chaos's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
angieinbooks's review
2.0
I'm starting to think Erica Lee books aren't for me. And I hate to say this because I'm not putting my work out there for people to read and criticize, but the writing quality just isn't there. That's not to say Lee doesn't have potential. I've been intrigued the premise of each and every book of hers I've read, but the execution just isn't good enough. If this were just about grammatical errors (which abound), I would be annoyed for sure, but what bothers me more is the lack of depth of story I'm getting here.
Jamie is 26 years old and hasn't come out to his parents, so he all but forces Reagan, his lesbian best friend, to join him for 5 weeks to stay with his parents for a family reunion because he's told them she's his girlfriend, putting her in the position of lying to people she doesn't even know and forcing her back in the closet. It doesn't help that Jamie's twin sister, Charlie, who Jamie never mentioned (in 6 years of best friendship--how?) is gorgeous and, once Reagan gets to spend more than 5 minutes with her, is pretty much Reagan's dream girl. And for Charlie, who's also in the closet, that feeling is pretty much mutual.
So here's why none of this worked:
1) Jamie is a horrible friend and you can't convince me otherwise. The obnoxious BFF is also a pattern in Erica Lee's writing, and I don't understand why she can't write a healthy best friend relationship, but this isn't it.
2) Jamie is a horrible brother, and I can't reveal why for reasons of spoilers, but he's not a good dude.
3) Charlie and Reagan fall for each other very quickly. Their relationship develops primarily through covert sexual encounters (these aren't explicit in the book), which I just don't love. I want to see romance build, but these two are pretty quickly heading into I Love You Land, when really there's just seemingly lust at play.
4) The whole Miller clan is way over the top homophobic. Look, I'm not suggesting there aren't really terrible homophobic parents who love their children on the condition of heterosexuality, but neither Jamie nor Charlie are teenagers. They are independent adults with good careers who live nowhere near home, so this whole thing felt contrived. And, trust me, as someone who didn't come out to her parents until she was nearly 30, I get how hard coming out is to parents you know won't be accepting of their kid's homosexuality, but this didn't make much sense to me.
I didn't hate this novel, but it honestly wasn't great. And I know this is self-published, so I do feel a little bad about some of the stuff I've written here, but since people are paying to read this, they deserve to know what they're getting into.
Jamie is 26 years old and hasn't come out to his parents, so he all but forces Reagan, his lesbian best friend, to join him for 5 weeks to stay with his parents for a family reunion because he's told them she's his girlfriend, putting her in the position of lying to people she doesn't even know and forcing her back in the closet. It doesn't help that Jamie's twin sister, Charlie, who Jamie never mentioned (in 6 years of best friendship--how?) is gorgeous and, once Reagan gets to spend more than 5 minutes with her, is pretty much Reagan's dream girl. And for Charlie, who's also in the closet, that feeling is pretty much mutual.
So here's why none of this worked:
1) Jamie is a horrible friend and you can't convince me otherwise. The obnoxious BFF is also a pattern in Erica Lee's writing, and I don't understand why she can't write a healthy best friend relationship, but this isn't it.
2) Jamie is a horrible brother, and I can't reveal why for reasons of spoilers, but he's not a good dude.
3) Charlie and Reagan fall for each other very quickly. Their relationship develops primarily through covert sexual encounters (these aren't explicit in the book), which I just don't love. I want to see romance build, but these two are pretty quickly heading into I Love You Land, when really there's just seemingly lust at play.
4) The whole Miller clan is way over the top homophobic. Look, I'm not suggesting there aren't really terrible homophobic parents who love their children on the condition of heterosexuality, but neither Jamie nor Charlie are teenagers. They are independent adults with good careers who live nowhere near home, so this whole thing felt contrived. And, trust me, as someone who didn't come out to her parents until she was nearly 30, I get how hard coming out is to parents you know won't be accepting of their kid's homosexuality, but this didn't make much sense to me.
I didn't hate this novel, but it honestly wasn't great. And I know this is self-published, so I do feel a little bad about some of the stuff I've written here, but since people are paying to read this, they deserve to know what they're getting into.
dwoht's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
filed under: fake dating a male friend but falling for his sister at a family holiday
i enjoyed reading this but it's kinda cliche and predictable. i'm also not a huge fan of instalove but it's a short book, so what can they do? i like charlie, reagan and jamie's dynamics, but oh boy, the amount of miscommunication is insane. literally all of their problems could be solved if they just talked to each other.
i gave it two stars because i'm following a rating system and it's meh. i added a .25 because of nana's character. she's cool and i wish she's given more screen time lol. nana for the win!
i enjoyed reading this but it's kinda cliche and predictable. i'm also not a huge fan of instalove but it's a short book, so what can they do? i like charlie, reagan and jamie's dynamics, but oh boy, the amount of miscommunication is insane. literally all of their problems could be solved if they just talked to each other.
i gave it two stars because i'm following a rating system and it's meh. i added a .25 because of nana's character. she's cool and i wish she's given more screen time lol. nana for the win!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Outing, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Sexism, and Sexual content