Reviews

lucy isn’t gonna be for everyone but that’s okay because i love my unhinged, sad, lonely, unapologetic, toxic, unfiltered, mentally exhausted woman who thinks love is the answer and just wants to share her love with someone else so she falls in love with a merman.

note: this is not a romance and should not be marketed or approached as such. it’s litfic.

mayflymaia's review against another edition

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2.0

at this point I should just make a shelf on here called “would have been a good short story but was an at best mediocre book”

errski's review against another edition

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2.0

I didn't think this book was bad... but I didn't think it was really as good as other people think. There are a lot of people who really like this book, I personally found the narration a little too whiny, which is the point of the character. Lucy is a 38 year old woman who is beyond selfish and probably the most disturbing main character I've read about in a while and I've been reading a lot of horror over the past two months. As far as romance... I do not read much from the romance genre and therefore am no expert, but I found a lot of the language to be really gross. Some of the romance was ok...,

Spoiler

but reading Lucy describe how she wanted to filet and eat him with butter was a little weird (trying to be funny)

. If the point of this book was romance, I am not convinced. A lot of this book is pretty humorous, but I would not say this book is humorous due to certain disturbing plot points in the story.

Also, and I'm not sure if this is a spoiler,

Spoiler

this story takes a look at Lucy and mental illness, her thoughts about addiction, suicide, death itself. And for me that is what the book was about, really. The romance ? I don't personally find lusty encounters all that romantic, or obsession for that matter and I think the obsession on both ends really "turned me off" so to speak...

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I did like the ending

Spoiler

it felt like Lucy was dealing with her suicidal thoughts, where she was willing to kill herself for Theo, like how the friend Claire is suicidal, and then deciding at the end that she wants to live and does not need anyone else, and (hopefully) is trying to be less of a selfish and crazy human being. Also that Theo's LOVE is also just the same obsession, I found that clever plot from the author, I really liked that comparison.

There was a lot about suicide and death in this story, and introspective thinking specifically about about suicide so this book might not be right for everyone. Also I would not read this if you are triggered by unhealthy relationship habits like obsession or anything like that. Like I said, I don't read a lot of romance novels, but I did not enjoy this one as much as some people did, but it might just not be for me.