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maggies's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I think I get what the author was trying to do with this book, but it fell flat for me. I never felt the supposed chemistry between Sadie and Jack, and all of Sadie's friends were pretty one-dimensional as well. The primary conflict between the main characters is blown way out of proportion. There's way too much telling rather than showing throughout the story. It's marketed as slow burn, but actually the "attraction" starts quite suddenly fairly early on, and Sadie and Jack decide they "don't want to mess it up" by moving too fast, which came across as an authorly gimmick instead of a reasonable choice by the characters. On top of all that, Sadie's negative self-talk was honestly just annoying. It didn't come across as genuine, especially because she had gone to counseling to deal with her abusive upbringing, and apparently this still didn't help her gain a more accurate self-image? When Gemma, Harley, and Nick intervene and tell her she needs to go back to therapy, it's supposed to be some lightning strike moment, but she should have been in therapy for years prior, and they all should have known that. Most of my complaints are about Sadie primarily because the book is written in her voice and also because Jack is woefully underdeveloped, which is really unfortunate because he had the makings of an unusual leading man at the beginning, and it didn't go anywhere.
Glad to have read the book, and maybe I'll check out another book by Falon Ballard in the future, but this was a decidedly debut novel, so I won't be rushing to read the next, I think.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, and Self harm
Minor: Racism
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