Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book had so much promise but it was lacking in the execution. The writing style was a bit odd - i.e. the chapter would start with a sentence telling you what happened and then go into great detail to describe it. It was sort of like the the author's first sentence was the TLDR and then she went ahead an said everything else. The end of the book was rushed. Finally, Ruby was an unreliable narrator and there were odd little asides that felt self referential. It was fine but I would not recommend it.
2.5 stars
2.5 stars
I wanted to like this book but I just wasn’t invested in the characters. One of the conflicts where Ruby is torn about loyalty to her friend vs loyalty to her crush makes no sense since they’ve basically spoken twice… it’s a cute premise but it didn’t work for me.
Cute and fun premise! Just not as engaging as some other recent reads.
2.5 stars.
This was part of the February box for the Happily Ever After Romance Subscription Book Box, and just to be clear, this doesn't affect my overall opinion of the subscription box and I encourage all of you to support an indie book store. But obviously, when you get a subscription box, there's bound to be a book or two you won't enjoy as much as others. C'est la vie, I guess.
The thing is, I feel like this was written for a specific subset of women, and I am definitely not part of it, which is kind of my problem with a lot of contemporary romance out there. There's really nothing wrong with that, but I'm not in the category of "women in their mid-thirties who like Outlander and would like nothing more than to move in a small Scotland town Hallmark-style and meet a hot Scottish guy". At least, not yet. This is a very self-indulgent book, with lots of descriptions (which I noticed because of how wordy they were), and again, there's really nothing wrong with that, but there are things here and there that stop me from rounding it up to 3 stars and just leave it as "it just wasn't for me".
The problem lies with the FMC, and to quote Jennifer Cruisie (special thanks to Jacob Profitt for talking about it in one of his reviews), she has what you call a "negative motivation", which means basically that her entire conflict is based on her not wanting to do something. Obviously I'm not saying it's an impossible thing to do in a story (many a Greek tragedy is based on that), but you have to be careful with that kind of thing since that could easily lead the reader to just want to shake the character to get over themselves and just do the darn thing (why hello, Alina Starkov).
Basically, what little plot there is (because at least 60% of the book is just Vibin' in Scotland) hinges entirely on the FMC befriending the female mayor of the town and learning from her that the restaurant where she's working and staying at is going to get bought by some tacky American guy. Given that won't fly with the MMC and his aunt, who owns the place, and that the town desperately needs the money from said tacky American guy, the mayor basically has the FMC pinky swear to not tell the MMC and his aunt about it. So basically, the FMC keeps her mouth shut about it, despite the aunt being nothing but kind to her and the sale meaning she'll have to find another home, despite her starting to hook up with the MMC who is also nothing but welcoming and helpful to her, because she pinky swore to a lady she literally spoke to once before that reveal, because... girlboss code, I guess. And also, whenever she *does* hesitate, she basically goes: "Oh, but I pinky swore! I can't possibly betray my bestie like that!" Like, what are you, 9? How are you a 35-year-old woman with an adult job???
What also didn't help is that I didn't care much about the romance - not to mention that the MMC also has a negative motivation of his own, namely that he refuses to talk about his ex, which, fine, I can buy that happening, but said ex HAPPENS TO BE THE MAYOR. And honestly, you're not going to make me believe that the FMC will stay in that small town for months on end and never find out through gossip that the MMC and the mayor were seriously dating at some point. People in small towns talk, like A LOT. So that meant that overall, I had no patience for the third act conflict, that also got resolved in a whiff, but I'll admit that I was skimming through the book from the 30% point onwards.
So yeah, as I said, not for me, and despite all my annoyances, I *do* think this will appeal to certain people and if it's up your alley, I do recommend checking it out.
This was part of the February box for the Happily Ever After Romance Subscription Book Box, and just to be clear, this doesn't affect my overall opinion of the subscription box and I encourage all of you to support an indie book store. But obviously, when you get a subscription box, there's bound to be a book or two you won't enjoy as much as others. C'est la vie, I guess.
The thing is, I feel like this was written for a specific subset of women, and I am definitely not part of it, which is kind of my problem with a lot of contemporary romance out there. There's really nothing wrong with that, but I'm not in the category of "women in their mid-thirties who like Outlander and would like nothing more than to move in a small Scotland town Hallmark-style and meet a hot Scottish guy". At least, not yet. This is a very self-indulgent book, with lots of descriptions (which I noticed because of how wordy they were), and again, there's really nothing wrong with that, but there are things here and there that stop me from rounding it up to 3 stars and just leave it as "it just wasn't for me".
The problem lies with the FMC, and to quote Jennifer Cruisie (special thanks to Jacob Profitt for talking about it in one of his reviews), she has what you call a "negative motivation", which means basically that her entire conflict is based on her not wanting to do something. Obviously I'm not saying it's an impossible thing to do in a story (many a Greek tragedy is based on that), but you have to be careful with that kind of thing since that could easily lead the reader to just want to shake the character to get over themselves and just do the darn thing (why hello, Alina Starkov).
Basically, what little plot there is (because at least 60% of the book is just Vibin' in Scotland) hinges entirely on the FMC befriending the female mayor of the town and learning from her that the restaurant where she's working and staying at is going to get bought by some tacky American guy. Given that won't fly with the MMC and his aunt, who owns the place, and that the town desperately needs the money from said tacky American guy, the mayor basically has the FMC pinky swear to not tell the MMC and his aunt about it. So basically, the FMC keeps her mouth shut about it, despite the aunt being nothing but kind to her and the sale meaning she'll have to find another home, despite her starting to hook up with the MMC who is also nothing but welcoming and helpful to her, because she pinky swore to a lady she literally spoke to once before that reveal, because... girlboss code, I guess. And also, whenever she *does* hesitate, she basically goes: "Oh, but I pinky swore! I can't possibly betray my bestie like that!" Like, what are you, 9? How are you a 35-year-old woman with an adult job???
What also didn't help is that I didn't care much about the romance - not to mention that the MMC also has a negative motivation of his own, namely that he refuses to talk about his ex, which, fine, I can buy that happening, but said ex HAPPENS TO BE THE MAYOR. And honestly, you're not going to make me believe that the FMC will stay in that small town for months on end and never find out through gossip that the MMC and the mayor were seriously dating at some point. People in small towns talk, like A LOT. So that meant that overall, I had no patience for the third act conflict, that also got resolved in a whiff, but I'll admit that I was skimming through the book from the 30% point onwards.
So yeah, as I said, not for me, and despite all my annoyances, I *do* think this will appeal to certain people and if it's up your alley, I do recommend checking it out.
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this book is aggressively mid. the writing is fantastic but the characters felt flat and i didn’t care enough about them to be okay with the “liar revealed” plot. i really wanted this to be so good but it just wasn’t! kind or boring, very weird loyalties of the main character, and meh chemistry.
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
hopeful
inspiring
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Pleasant romance novel with a side plot of seeking self-fulfillment. For me the best parts were the descriptions of cooking and that the couple was rather serious about their feelings from the beginning and set on a real, emotional connection. The author does a really good job with this for most of the book and therefore I enjoyed it a lot more than many similar books, where the lovers' feelings seem shallow in comparison.
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes