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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
Pick your favorite slow burn TV show, and now imagine the actors are in love in real life. After a whirlwind lust affair during the first season, Lilah Hunter and Shane McCarthy have spent the last 7 years hating each other. Even though she left the show three years ago, with Lilah's career future up in the air, the only shot at redemption is returning for the final season, which also means returning to Shane. As you already know, there's a thin love between love and hate! A funny, fun but also heart wrenching at times story that's sure to make you wish at least of your ships is real life.
The thing I like best about Wilder is that she doesn't shy away from showing even the best relationships are a choice and hard work. This isn't a fluffy book. Bad choices are made. Both characters are deeply unlikable for large stretches, but if the reader puts in the work watching them put in the work, the pay off is worth it.
I don’t love enemies to lovers but I do like second chances so this was a good middle ground. And I still love celebrity romance
DNF at 30%. Theses characters are insufferable, I just can't
Lilah and Shane met at an acting audition. Lilah, a trained, aspiring actress and Shane, a strikingly handsome bartender just trying it out because he can. They both land lead roles in the paranormal romance television show, Intangibles, where their characters are hopelessly in love on screen. They both became famous, became involved, and then fell apart. They have the opportunity to re-connect when Lila returns to the show for the ninth and final season.
This is my first Wilder book, but I’d heard good things about her prior book and this one. I was excited to read it because I love the title and premise — a whole book about the particular romance trope “will they or won’t they” which I haven’t read too much of in the past. There are other tropes and themes too - enemies to lovers, celebrity romance, second chances, forced proximity, and more. Those tropes, I am much more experienced with.
It was written in dual POVs and timelines (then vs. now). I love dual POVs in my romance! I love knowing what’s going through both parties heads which adds way more to the tension and conflict in most books. However, what I don’t like in my romance is lots of irrelevant backstory and a slow burn without resolution until the very end. Perhaps second chance/will they or won’t they romance just isn’t a trope for me since it requires some of that to a certain extent. I ended up renting this book on audio at my local library after it published because that was my only way I could get through it and finish (on 2.5x). It took me a really long time to come to care about the characters — until near the end actually. I liked Shane more than Lilah. In fact, I thought Lilah was pretty unlikable for most of the book and didn’t really care if she got her happy ending or not but I wanted the world for Shane…
Thank you to Ava, Random House Ballantine, and NetGalley for the digital review copy!
This is my first Wilder book, but I’d heard good things about her prior book and this one. I was excited to read it because I love the title and premise — a whole book about the particular romance trope “will they or won’t they” which I haven’t read too much of in the past. There are other tropes and themes too - enemies to lovers, celebrity romance, second chances, forced proximity, and more. Those tropes, I am much more experienced with.
It was written in dual POVs and timelines (then vs. now). I love dual POVs in my romance! I love knowing what’s going through both parties heads which adds way more to the tension and conflict in most books. However, what I don’t like in my romance is lots of irrelevant backstory and a slow burn without resolution until the very end. Perhaps second chance/will they or won’t they romance just isn’t a trope for me since it requires some of that to a certain extent. I ended up renting this book on audio at my local library after it published because that was my only way I could get through it and finish (on 2.5x). It took me a really long time to come to care about the characters — until near the end actually. I liked Shane more than Lilah. In fact, I thought Lilah was pretty unlikable for most of the book and didn’t really care if she got her happy ending or not but I wanted the world for Shane…
Thank you to Ava, Random House Ballantine, and NetGalley for the digital review copy!
I picked up this book because someone on YouTube said this author writes the hell out of a sex scene... and they weren't wrong, but at what cost? The book started and ended pretty strong - I think the main characters' chemistry shone the best in those parts. But I lost interest in the middle portion, which placed the characters in a bunch of actor/celebrity contexts that I don't care for.
I knew I was going to love this when I read the premise of the book but it was SO SO good. RTC
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
lighthearted
medium-paced
It took a while for me to get into the book and the characters. I wish there had been more character development and history at the beginning. Once I got to about the middle of the book, I enjoyed reading it and had more difficulty putting it down.