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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pub Date: 10/1/23
LOVED my Amazon First Reads pick for this month. This was the cutest quick read and was I absolutely hooked from the first chapter. I love a quick witted character and that is exactly what we get with Penelope. She clearly gets her sense of humor from her Nana who the best answers for everything and also a secret sidegig. This ride through a holiday week that is always ends up to be a doozy for the Banks family keeps you entertained every page.
This year Penny is forced to deal with all her relationships and somehow not melt into the worst version of herself as usual. She might have just met her match though with Martin.
Add to your TBR! And…see if you know where the last names are from!
Pub Date: 10/1/23
LOVED my Amazon First Reads pick for this month. This was the cutest quick read and was I absolutely hooked from the first chapter. I love a quick witted character and that is exactly what we get with Penelope. She clearly gets her sense of humor from her Nana who the best answers for everything and also a secret sidegig. This ride through a holiday week that is always ends up to be a doozy for the Banks family keeps you entertained every page.
This year Penny is forced to deal with all her relationships and somehow not melt into the worst version of herself as usual. She might have just met her match though with Martin.
Add to your TBR! And…see if you know where the last names are from!
A quick cute read, perfect for Thanksgiving week.
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
funny
lighthearted
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
Love it!
I had no idea how it would end but I was pleasantly surprised. I’d give it a 9 out of 10 :)
I had no idea how it would end but I was pleasantly surprised. I’d give it a 9 out of 10 :)
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Made me laugh, made me cry, I absolutely loved this book!! This was such a breathe of fresh air, I need this to be made into a movie or short series
I’m not sure how I feel about this, it’s kind of a weird one. The summary and opening of the book made it seem as though Smith was going to be the romantic interest so Martin seemed somewhat out of left field. I was just as happy to skip over the second chance romance but it makes a lot of the writing decisions pretty incomprehensible. The beginning goes super hard on the reunion with Smith and the remaining chemistry and affection between them but then that’s it. Building a platonic and friendly relationship or rekindling a romantic relationship are entirely out of consideration and then he completely drops out of the narrative except for when Penelope can be inexplicably angry with him or her dad can use him as a convenient prop. The revealed reason for their breakup is also super dumb and made me even more frustrated with Penelope’s decision making in retrospect than I already was.
Penelope’s relationship with her family was the most interesting but also the most frustrating part of this. Yes, she was frequently the author of her own unhappiness and she needs to own and work on that to be in a good place. But as often happens when the main character is coming to terms with their own flaws, the rest of her terrible family are mostly let off the hook. And they are awful. Her sister’s insistence on blaming Penelope for her parent’s bad actions was understandable, and probably even realistic, but made for an infuriating, annoying read. Except yeah, she’s definitely correct that coming to casually visit your estranged for a decade family so that you can ask for money is sleazy and entitled rather that the girl-boss power move that the author seems to believe it is. The resolution was too easy in terms of both repaired relationships and logistics. Penelope is going to be a partner in her new bookshop from across the country and it’s fine because she can do some social media stuff? Yeah, that’s an irritating fantasy and her partners hopefully kick her out in her ass for being an idiot. The astrology bs also got super annoying.
I thought I was going to rate this as decent, because I did enjoy a lot of it while reading, but the more I think about it the more annoyed I am at the whole mess.
Penelope’s relationship with her family was the most interesting but also the most frustrating part of this. Yes, she was frequently the author of her own unhappiness and she needs to own and work on that to be in a good place. But as often happens when the main character is coming to terms with their own flaws, the rest of her terrible family are mostly let off the hook. And they are awful. Her sister’s insistence on blaming Penelope for her parent’s bad actions was understandable, and probably even realistic, but made for an infuriating, annoying read. Except yeah, she’s definitely correct that coming to casually visit your estranged for a decade family so that you can ask for money is sleazy and entitled rather that the girl-boss power move that the author seems to believe it is. The resolution was too easy in terms of both repaired relationships and logistics. Penelope is going to be a partner in her new bookshop from across the country and it’s fine because she can do some social media stuff? Yeah, that’s an irritating fantasy and her partners hopefully kick her out in her ass for being an idiot. The astrology bs also got super annoying.
I thought I was going to rate this as decent, because I did enjoy a lot of it while reading, but the more I think about it the more annoyed I am at the whole mess.