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marieketron's review
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This was a bit of a frustrating read to be honest! The main love interest starts out as a bit of a douchebag, though sometimes it feels like a bigger deal is being made of this than feels strictly necessary? There are other male characters who are much more douchey in this book and in the world, so having a love interest be not the worst is usually a good starting point. He does go on a bit of a self improvement journey, but by the end I don't exactly feel like he's changed or improved enough to no longer be considered douchey - in which case, what is the point of making that the main obstacle in the romance?
Of course the real main obstacle is the secret the guy keeps, but it's a secret that was pretty easy to work out and it's never actually explained or shown how he handles all the various repercussions that come with. There are two separate stretches of time where he cuts off contact with the protag completely and without warning to work on accepting his secret or something, but we never learn how that actually works. Plus, you would think the second time round he would have learned that is not okay behaviour and at least explain to the protag what's going on.
Another reviewer mentioned wanting to see more of the female friends, which I completely agree with, and even their male love interests or other male friends would be welcome.
At the same time, I really loved the writing style, which felt very different from most contemporary romances. Like you're really living in the head of the protag and she's not too bothered with explaining everything that's going on for the benefit of the reader, because she is living and experiencing in the moment and so no further explanation would be required. I also really liked the romance and chemistry, even if I'm not too big on narratives that teach the bad boy how to be good. The protag does make a good point in the end that some of that work needs to come from inside a person.
Finally, a minor but niggly hangup for me: the book really holds to the belief that sex means penetrative, penis-in-vagina sex, which 1) feels very heteronormative and 2) erases the value and meaning and emotion that can be attached to other forms of sex (mostly oral and uh, manual I guess) in this story.
Of course the real main obstacle is the secret the guy keeps, but it's a secret that was pretty easy to work out and it's never actually explained or shown how he handles all the various repercussions that come with. There are two separate stretches of time where he cuts off contact with the protag completely and without warning to work on accepting his secret or something, but we never learn how that actually works. Plus, you would think the second time round he would have learned that is not okay behaviour and at least explain to the protag what's going on.
Another reviewer mentioned wanting to see more of the female friends, which I completely agree with, and even their male love interests or other male friends would be welcome.
At the same time, I really loved the writing style, which felt very different from most contemporary romances. Like you're really living in the head of the protag and she's not too bothered with explaining everything that's going on for the benefit of the reader, because she is living and experiencing in the moment and so no further explanation would be required. I also really liked the romance and chemistry, even if I'm not too big on narratives that teach the bad boy how to be good. The protag does make a good point in the end that some of that work needs to come from inside a person.
Finally, a minor but niggly hangup for me: the book really holds to the belief that sex means penetrative, penis-in-vagina sex, which 1) feels very heteronormative and 2) erases the value and meaning and emotion that can be attached to other forms of sex (mostly oral and uh, manual I guess) in this story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Bullying, Car accident, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexism, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, and Emotional abuse
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