Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Idea of You

When I saw the preview for this movie, and heard what it was about, I was immediately interested. I read After in high school and loved everything about it, so I was expecting this to be similar. In some ways it was, and in many others it was not.

I didn’t mind the reverse age gap in this book except for the unrealistic descriptions of a 20 year old boy’s body and behaviors. The whole rockstar romance trope is right up my alley and I absolutely ate it up.

There was a lot of name dropping, city dropping, and brand dropping in this book that really brought me out of the story. It felt like a lot to think about and keep track of, and I didn’t enjoy reading about the materialistic aspect of life in Los Angeles.

At the beginning, the spice in this book was tastefully done and I thought that it seemed really mature. It quickly got redundant and repeated every 10 pages. The MCs had such a tangible connection both emotionally and physically, but the countless mentions of their public sexual escapades became tiresome.

The ending of this book wrecked me. I was not expecting it despite hearing some rumors about the conclusion. When I read the last chapter, especially the last half of it, my stomach literally hurt and was in knots. I considered increasing my rating based off of how much this book made me physically feel, but I wish that it hadn’t been rushed through.

My favorite line from this book was: “"I love you," he said. Without qualifiers, without conditions.

He allowed it to sit there and wash over me. Warm, like the Caribbean sun.

"You don't have to say anything," he said; apparently, I hadn't.

"Just know that I do."”

I will definitely, without a doubt, watch the movie when it comes out. I’m excited to see how the page to screen feel is, and I find myself hoping they change the ending.

Content Warnings