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rachael_perry's review against another edition
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I’ve said a lot while reading this, but I’ll start by saying it’s so hard to enjoy a book you’re constantly correcting. There were so many grammatical and spelling errors that I was surprised to see in the Acknowledgments that there were, in fact, editors. Both main characters were boring and generic, the premise started out so good but was executed poorly, and the smut scenes were like reading transcribed porn (super male-gazey, even when the author wanted us to think the focus was on Zoe- it wasn’t). This book is basically a manual for how to love-bomb someone. It was so manipulative. All the characters were aged in their thirties but acted like twenty-year-olds. In fact, I have a strong suspicion that Elizabeth aged her characters after initially making them in their twenties and deciding she wanted them to be “more mature.” The girls have One Direction and Jonas Brothers posters on their walls in their childhood bedrooms. Those bands were big ten years ago, which would make her characters twenty-year-old women with posters of prepubescent boys on their walls. Which I guess is on theme with the subtle pedophilia throughout the book.
Edit: My IT husband looked up “coworking coffee shop” and discovered it IS a thing. They are booths one can rent out for work. They cost at least $100 to rent. It looks like a business center. Now that I know what it is, it seems unrealistic to have one in a small town in New Jersey, and doesn’t sound very lucrative.
Spoilers ahead:
I hated Zander. He was controlling, arrogant, and a dick. Every time he pulled the hair tie out of Zoe’s hair and threw it away, I put the book down. I have curly hair and can tell you that shit hurts. Even if you straighten it, unless you shellac it, curly hair frizzes, and yanking a hair tie out snags. It’s not cute.
Zoe was so annoying. She has some serious self esteem issues. Every time she said, “Okay, Zander,” I wanted to strangle her. She never stood up for herself. Oh wait, one time she did… 75% of the way through the book, and she caved almost immediately after doing so. I got so tired of her inner monologue and her constant doubt.
Elizabeth gave them just enough backstory with one another that we knew they were friends, he had a nickname for her, and they crushed on each other but never acted upon it. But the annoying pet of that basic background is that even though Zander called Zoe “Pip,” and she liked when he did, he continued to call her “baby,” which she thought to herself a few times that she did not like.
I’m honestly too tired to go into everything I disliked about the book. It was repetitive. Zander was a mind-reader. There were constantly action tags from one character connected the dialogue of the other character. I still don’t know what a “coworking coffee shop” is, and I have worked at several coffee shops. It’s not a thing, and if it was, it would have a name that made more sense. Zoe and Zander never did anything without being told to do it. The necklace Zander gave Zoe was given the way a NXIVM brand was given. He was possessive as fuck and constantly wanted her to be someone she clearly wasn’t.
Writers need to read. I am currently also reading “People We Meet On Vacation,” by Emily Henry, and the two characters are falling in love organically without having to tell each other constantly that they’re trying to be together because, “we’re meant to be.” It’s lovely and allows the reader to connect with the characters so that when any love scene does eventually appear, it’s earned and valid, not disgusting.
I read a scene in a different book where a female character took a body shot off another woman, and it was more erotic than the smut scenes in this book.
Elizabeth missed a serious opportunity to have Zander use Taylor Swift lyrics in his proposal, and maybe, you know, show her he’s been paying attention? Despite my dislike of this book, “Love Story” lyrics were going through my head through that entire scene, my brain desperately trying to connect the premise with the content.
If I were not going to have the opportunity to hear from the author, I would have DNF’d this book by page 70. It was a slog to get through. I also read the deleted scene and am so glad it was deleted. It’s the worst Zander ever was to Zoe, and it’s cloaked in the author’s complete misunderstanding of what an dominant/submissive sexual relationship is supposed to be. </spoiler)
Edit: My IT husband looked up “coworking coffee shop” and discovered it IS a thing. They are booths one can rent out for work. They cost at least $100 to rent. It looks like a business center. Now that I know what it is, it seems unrealistic to have one in a small town in New Jersey, and doesn’t sound very lucrative.
Spoilers ahead:
Zoe was so annoying. She has some serious self esteem issues. Every time she said, “Okay, Zander,” I wanted to strangle her. She never stood up for herself. Oh wait, one time she did… 75% of the way through the book, and she caved almost immediately after doing so. I got so tired of her inner monologue and her constant doubt.
Elizabeth gave them just enough backstory with one another that we knew they were friends, he had a nickname for her, and they crushed on each other but never acted upon it. But the annoying pet of that basic background is that even though Zander called Zoe “Pip,” and she liked when he did, he continued to call her “baby,” which she thought to herself a few times that she did not like.
I’m honestly too tired to go into everything I disliked about the book. It was repetitive. Zander was a mind-reader. There were constantly action tags from one character connected the dialogue of the other character. I still don’t know what a “coworking coffee shop” is, and I have worked at several coffee shops. It’s not a thing, and if it was, it would have a name that made more sense. Zoe and Zander never did anything without being told to do it. The necklace Zander gave Zoe was given the way a NXIVM brand was given. He was possessive as fuck and constantly wanted her to be someone she clearly wasn’t.
Writers need to read. I am currently also reading “People We Meet On Vacation,” by Emily Henry, and the two characters are falling in love organically without having to tell each other constantly that they’re trying to be together because, “we’re meant to be.” It’s lovely and allows the reader to connect with the characters so that when any love scene does eventually appear, it’s earned and valid, not disgusting.
I read a scene in a different book where a female character took a body shot off another woman, and it was more erotic than the smut scenes in this book.
Elizabeth missed a serious opportunity to have Zander use Taylor Swift lyrics in his proposal, and maybe, you know, show her he’s been paying attention? Despite my dislike of this book, “Love Story” lyrics were going through my head through that entire scene, my brain desperately trying to connect the premise with the content.
If I were not going to have the opportunity to hear from the author, I would have DNF’d this book by page 70. It was a slog to get through. I also read the deleted scene and am so glad it was deleted. It’s the worst Zander ever was to Zoe, and it’s cloaked in the author’s complete misunderstanding of what an dominant/submissive sexual relationship is supposed to be. </spoiler)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny
Minor: Pregnancy
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