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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Some laugh out loud moments in the early chapters but not enough to keep me cheering for Tori and her quest to find a girlfriend before Christmas. An okay read.
This was definitely a fun read, as the start of the book invokes a couple of tropes so that I wasn't completely sure what direction this book was going to go: who would fall in love with whom?
Even though the details were quite different, I could see myself and my wife and our history together in Tori and, especially in their .
I always think that the best lovers come from, so this was fun for me!
Even though the details were quite different, I could see myself and my wife and our history together in Tori and
Spoiler
HollySpoiler
long-time friendship turning into loveI always think that the best lovers come from
Spoiler
those who were already friends
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Biphobia
Eh. It was okay on balance I guess. More like a 2.7/5. Here’s some more thoughts, vaguely organised:
The characters don’t have any continuity when it comes to emotions or emotional reactions to other people or situations. Not in a real-people-are-messy kind of way, in a this-writing-is-messy kind of way. It’s constant whiplash because the characterisations aren’t steady. Like the book was written scene by scene without examining how those characters interacted previously. It also did the typical Lesfic™️ thing and totally erased bisexuality, which sucked; and everyone was extremely judgemental, often about looks, which also sucked; Holly and Victoria continually referred to one of their friends as being “crazy” which ALSO sucked; but there was a fairly well-sized collection of queer characters which was a nice change from a lot of ones I’ve read, where everyone is the Token Queer in their life and they associate mainly with non-queers.
The most annoying thing about this for me was a bunch of little clumsy mistakes: like the absolute statement about pre-teen kissing, froth on flat whites, mistaking the trachea for the oesophagus, a professor at Oxford dressing like a hippie fortune teller at a carnival and that this was something she “learned at professor school” — that one especially sounds fake. (Most of these were expanded upon in my reading updates.) In Once Upon A Princess it was chipped plates and mugs being constantly reused in a cafe like that was fine and not a major health code violation. The whole time I was reading I was like, where is the editor?? Why is no one checking the little things, there’s SO MANY small inaccuracies but they add up until it seems not only clumsy but lazy. There’s nothing wrong with the grammar but it needs, idk, life-picking, the way fanfics of British media by Americans often need Britpicking.
Also, it seems none of Clare Lydon’s main characters can look at any attractive women without getting aroused; that’s a whole thing. Twitching clits and rushing between the legs and descriptions of breasts on what feels like every second page, and that also doesn’t feel very realistic. Maybe I’m wrong, but I just roll my eyes every time it happens. And while we’re on the topic of unrealistic: the resolution of Victoria’s love life woes was all at once predictable, unbelievable, ridiculous and fitting. I can’t decide how I feel about it even though I called it halfway. Like there wasn’t enough lead up but any more would have been TOO obvious. It’s usually one of my favourite tropes but it just wasn’t executed very well because there was too much other shit going on at the same time.
It was good that Holly called Victoria out on the fact that she constantly made absolutely terrible decisions that only led to more drama, and it was a conversation that should have led to character development, but we didn’t really see any because of the turns the plot took afterwards.
Anyway. Contrary to appearances, I didn’t hate reading this one. It was a bit of a chore by the end when I could see how everything was going to turn out and I was just waiting to get there but it wasn’t hard to read. And for once an author actually wrote believable dialogue, and the banter was great. But I don’t think Clare Lydon is for me and I won’t be reading any of her other books because I don’t really actually enjoy them.
The characters don’t have any continuity when it comes to emotions or emotional reactions to other people or situations. Not in a real-people-are-messy kind of way, in a this-writing-is-messy kind of way. It’s constant whiplash because the characterisations aren’t steady. Like the book was written scene by scene without examining how those characters interacted previously. It also did the typical Lesfic™️ thing and totally erased bisexuality, which sucked; and everyone was extremely judgemental, often about looks, which also sucked; Holly and Victoria continually referred to one of their friends as being “crazy” which ALSO sucked; but there was a fairly well-sized collection of queer characters which was a nice change from a lot of ones I’ve read, where everyone is the Token Queer in their life and they associate mainly with non-queers.
The most annoying thing about this for me was a bunch of little clumsy mistakes: like the absolute statement about pre-teen kissing, froth on flat whites, mistaking the trachea for the oesophagus, a professor at Oxford dressing like a hippie fortune teller at a carnival and that this was something she “learned at professor school” — that one especially sounds fake. (Most of these were expanded upon in my reading updates.) In Once Upon A Princess it was chipped plates and mugs being constantly reused in a cafe like that was fine and not a major health code violation. The whole time I was reading I was like, where is the editor?? Why is no one checking the little things, there’s SO MANY small inaccuracies but they add up until it seems not only clumsy but lazy. There’s nothing wrong with the grammar but it needs, idk, life-picking, the way fanfics of British media by Americans often need Britpicking.
Also, it seems none of Clare Lydon’s main characters can look at any attractive women without getting aroused; that’s a whole thing. Twitching clits and rushing between the legs and descriptions of breasts on what feels like every second page, and that also doesn’t feel very realistic. Maybe I’m wrong, but I just roll my eyes every time it happens. And while we’re on the topic of unrealistic: the resolution of Victoria’s love life woes was all at once predictable, unbelievable, ridiculous and fitting. I can’t decide how I feel about it even though I called it halfway. Like there wasn’t enough lead up but any more would have been TOO obvious. It’s usually one of my favourite tropes but it just wasn’t executed very well because there was too much other shit going on at the same time.
It was good that Holly called Victoria out on the fact that she constantly made absolutely terrible decisions that only led to more drama, and it was a conversation that should have led to character development, but we didn’t really see any because of the turns the plot took afterwards.
Anyway. Contrary to appearances, I didn’t hate reading this one. It was a bit of a chore by the end when I could see how everything was going to turn out and I was just waiting to get there but it wasn’t hard to read. And for once an author actually wrote believable dialogue, and the banter was great. But I don’t think Clare Lydon is for me and I won’t be reading any of her other books because I don’t really actually enjoy them.
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this book was pretty meh for me. i'm normally a massive romance reader but it kind of fell flat as i hated most of the characters (until near the end when tori had her revelation and completely changed). also it did have a bit of a biphobic undertone - like i as a gay person understand how bad compulsory heterosexuality can be, but the references to "switching sides" and no reference to bisexuality in wlw dating it just felt a bit off. i did like the british setting though!
Very likeable and full of those watch-between-your-fingers moments of horror when our narrator does the exact stupid thing we could see ourselves doing. Really looking forrward to the next in series/