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emmysforeverbooked's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Where do I start with this review... The main character felt insufferable for about 85% of the book, the writing style was just idek, and the ending??? Really???
I'm gonna flesh out each of these things just to kind of give you an insight as to why I didn't like each thing. But before I get started, please know that these things are not personal digs at the author, I'm sure she's great. This book, however, just did not do it for me. That's not to say you shouldn't pick it up if you think you'll like it! You read what interests you, these are just my personal opinions while I was reading it.
Chani. Chani, Chani, Chani. I feel weird even typing that because the love interest does, in fact, say that during the smut, which I will touch on later. But for now, I just need to rant about the main character for a sec. I honestly think that for once, if this had been dual POV, I would've enjoyed the guy's POV better. Other than Belly from The Summer I Turned Pretty, this is the most insufferable MC I have ever read about. This whole book felt like "Poor, pitiful me. I'm a famous writer and I have the best life ever but it doesn't matter because my life is actually awful since I didn't get to f!ck this hot celebrity man." Babes... this is like the entirety of stan twt complaining because they didn't get to sleep with a member of BTS. It would be nice, but it's just not going to happen.
And then when it did happen? After she spent 10 years complaining and sulking because she didn't take her opportunity to sleep with him and now she finally can, guess what? Her first instinct is to complain because it did happen 🤦🏻♀️
Which I guess brings me to my next point, the ✨️smut✨️ scene. Now my first complaint is that I had to wait 302 pages, nearly the entirety of the book, for her to say "we were tangled up like two horny octopuses." 😐 yep, you read that right. You know what the smut chapter felt like? 10 pages of glorified wattpad fanfiction. Especially when you consider that this man feels like a knock-off Tom Holland or someone like that. The smut in this book was just embarrassing...
Tbh the overall writing style was just... I don't even know how to take it. One minute, there would be fancy words I had to Google the definition of while the only variation of speaker tags we had were "I say" or "He asks". Like there were no other speaking verbs other than those two. Maybe this wouldn't bother someone else, but I'm autistic, I have to have tone indicators to know how I'm supposed to take these things.
Finally, because I could go on forever if you let me, I just need to release my anger for the ending. Because wtf was that? You just expect me to believe they haven't seen each other in a decade, then sleep together the day after they reunite, tell each other "F!ck you!" and basically break up despite not even being together, and their mutual friend sets them back up together all within a span of about 12 hours??? Girl wut?? And then you expect me to believe after they have a single conversation discussing their feelings for all of about five minutes, that they're happily married in the epilogue? I simply cannot compute.
All this being said, I do think this book would've been great as a Y/A book. Someone's thirteen year old daughter would eat this up if there wasn't a smut scene and a scene within the first ten pages of the book where MC thoroughly describes how hot and bothered Gabe Parker makes her feel with one glance over. So I think if you enjoy Y/A romance and celebrity romance, you'd probably enjoy this book. However, for me personally, it just wasn't what I wanted considering I picked this up on the premise that it was a contemporary romance.
I'm gonna flesh out each of these things just to kind of give you an insight as to why I didn't like each thing. But before I get started, please know that these things are not personal digs at the author, I'm sure she's great. This book, however, just did not do it for me. That's not to say you shouldn't pick it up if you think you'll like it! You read what interests you, these are just my personal opinions while I was reading it.
Chani. Chani, Chani, Chani. I feel weird even typing that because the love interest does, in fact, say that during the smut, which I will touch on later. But for now, I just need to rant about the main character for a sec. I honestly think that for once, if this had been dual POV, I would've enjoyed the guy's POV better. Other than Belly from The Summer I Turned Pretty, this is the most insufferable MC I have ever read about. This whole book felt like "Poor, pitiful me. I'm a famous writer and I have the best life ever but it doesn't matter because my life is actually awful since I didn't get to f!ck this hot celebrity man." Babes... this is like the entirety of stan twt complaining because they didn't get to sleep with a member of BTS. It would be nice, but it's just not going to happen.
And then when it did happen? After she spent 10 years complaining and sulking because she didn't take her opportunity to sleep with him and now she finally can, guess what? Her first instinct is to complain because it did happen 🤦🏻♀️
Which I guess brings me to my next point, the ✨️smut✨️ scene. Now my first complaint is that I had to wait 302 pages, nearly the entirety of the book, for her to say "we were tangled up like two horny octopuses." 😐 yep, you read that right. You know what the smut chapter felt like? 10 pages of glorified wattpad fanfiction. Especially when you consider that this man feels like a knock-off Tom Holland or someone like that. The smut in this book was just embarrassing...
Tbh the overall writing style was just... I don't even know how to take it. One minute, there would be fancy words I had to Google the definition of while the only variation of speaker tags we had were "I say" or "He asks". Like there were no other speaking verbs other than those two. Maybe this wouldn't bother someone else, but I'm autistic, I have to have tone indicators to know how I'm supposed to take these things.
Finally, because I could go on forever if you let me, I just need to release my anger for the ending. Because wtf was that? You just expect me to believe they haven't seen each other in a decade, then sleep together the day after they reunite, tell each other "F!ck you!" and basically break up despite not even being together, and their mutual friend sets them back up together all within a span of about 12 hours??? Girl wut?? And then you expect me to believe after they have a single conversation discussing their feelings for all of about five minutes, that they're happily married in the epilogue? I simply cannot compute.
All this being said, I do think this book would've been great as a Y/A book. Someone's thirteen year old daughter would eat this up if there wasn't a smut scene and a scene within the first ten pages of the book where MC thoroughly describes how hot and bothered Gabe Parker makes her feel with one glance over. So I think if you enjoy Y/A romance and celebrity romance, you'd probably enjoy this book. However, for me personally, it just wasn't what I wanted considering I picked this up on the premise that it was a contemporary romance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Addiction, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Homophobia, and Cursing
Minor: Misogyny, Car accident, and Antisemitism
auudrey's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Homophobia
Minor: Death, Antisemitism, and Death of parent
lixard's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Enjoyable! I flew through this book (mostly because I was on a 7-day loan) and it was so digestible. I did enjoy the overall story, I love this premise (it sparked me going on ao3 to find some delicious celebrity au fics to consume), but something about it couldn't connect to me.
It read almost like the small town character 1 x big city character 2 vibes... maybe because of the Montana of it all but yeah... Ultimately, I think that the characters' struggles are real events that occur, but nothing really made them sympathetic heroes to me. And I really was looking forward to a deeper examination into Oliver's subplot, which I guessed, but it was there as a support for Gabe's plot... which doesn't sit right with me. Though that is also not what this book set out to do.
It read almost like the small town character 1 x big city character 2 vibes... maybe because of the Montana of it all but yeah... Ultimately, I think that the characters' struggles are real events that occur, but nothing really made them sympathetic heroes to me. And I really was looking forward to a deeper examination into Oliver's subplot, which I guessed, but it was there as a support for Gabe's plot... which doesn't sit right with me. Though that is also not what this book set out to do.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Misogyny, and Addiction
Minor: Antisemitism
bootsmom3's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual content, Addiction, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Antisemitism, and Vomit
laheath's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Given the opportunity to interview celebrity, Gabe Parker, who is poised for a comeback, writer Chani Horowitz is having second thoughts. Her first interview with him, ten years prior, helped to launch her career, but not for all the right reasons. Told in alternating chapters of Then and Now, interspersed with Chani's blog posts and articles, as well as other reviews, this was a fun story of can a regular girl get the celebrity? At times, Chani is so self-deprecating that the reader is left agreeing with her, why would the celebrity be interested in her? When they're together, they have great chemistry, though, and at least the ending of this very slow burn finally answers some of those questions.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Homophobia, Alcohol, Cursing, and Classism
Minor: Drug use and Antisemitism
jennylarue's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Easily the most unique styled book I’ve read. Loved how it was told and the turns it took through time and this relationship. Super cute read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Sexism, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny
Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Grief, Homophobia, Antisemitism, and Sexual content
katherinek's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I had trouble getting into this at first. I didn't really like the main characters and it fell pretty flat for the first 75 pages or so, but after that it picked up and I was able to get into it more. I loved the dog!! The timeline jumping confused me a couple times, but it was a good choice for how the story unraveled. There was a lot of fluff that could've been left out, especially a lot of the articles that were sprinkled in.
When it comes to the characters, I wanted to know more about Jacinda and Ollie. I think that was the intention with Jacinda because she was supposed to feel like a perfect, untouchable celebrity, but I wish the author had gone a different direction with her. Ollie was pretty interesting at first but he quickly turned into just a stereotypical gay man which disappointed me.
I felt the same way about Gabe, too; nothing about him really excited me at all. Chani, however, was very well developed, but I just couldn't see why she really liked Gabe, other than the fact that he was her celebrity crush. The chemistry between them was barely there for me.
The plot was still pretty interesting for the most part, though. I loved the theatre and movie references sprinkled in, and the inside jokes that resurfaced throughout the story were a nice touch. I especially loved how Chani's article about her "perfect day" foreshadowed her trip to the bookstore with Gabe.
When it comes to the characters, I wanted to know more about Jacinda and Ollie. I think that was the intention with Jacinda because she was supposed to feel like a perfect, untouchable celebrity, but I wish the author had gone a different direction with her. Ollie was pretty interesting at first but he quickly turned into just a stereotypical gay man which disappointed me.
I felt the same way about Gabe, too; nothing about him really excited me at all. Chani, however, was very well developed, but I just couldn't see why she really liked Gabe, other than the fact that he was her celebrity crush. The chemistry between them was barely there for me.
The plot was still pretty interesting for the most part, though. I loved the theatre and movie references sprinkled in, and the inside jokes that resurfaced throughout the story were a nice touch. I especially loved how Chani's article about her "perfect day" foreshadowed her trip to the bookstore with Gabe.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Homophobia and Alcoholism
Minor: Bullying, Antisemitism, Death, Fatphobia, and Grief
kayladaila's review
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Sexual content
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Misogyny
Minor: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Car accident, and Toxic friendship
sian's review
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Unfortunately despite likeable characters and engaging writing and an interesting premise, Sussman just wasn't able to sell me on the believability of the romance between the two main characters.
The whole emotional impact of of the "you never called!" "you were still married!" "what did you think would happen when you invited me backstage to your play?!" conversations in the later part of the novel, and the way that Gabe's family knows all about the journalist and are so excited to "finally meet her" (when he's been married for the past decade and this is just some woman who interviewed him a decade ago) really requires the reader to be able to suspend their disbelief a heck of a lot considering this is all over a fumbly hookup ten years ago where feelings were never discussed and wherein neither party had any reason to assume it wasn't a casual thing to the other - and then to have them proclaim their love for each other after having spent a few days together in total over a 10 year span just seemed a little tenuous. I just wasn't able to get there, personally.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol
Moderate: Homophobia and Alcoholism
Minor: Antisemitism, Drug use, and Death of parent
lauramparis's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Misogyny
Minor: Death, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Homophobia