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notagreatreader's review
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Well, this book was sure a series of decisions that the author made. There were some good ones but I'll get to that.
First, I sure would like to know what went through the author's head when choosing to write a sapphic romance told from two POVs and make one of those POVs the most obnoxious mysoginistic racist dudebro on the planet? Like, how would that be appealing to a target audience for a sapphic romance? What's worse, the book starts off with the chapter from the dudebro's perspective and I almost stopped reading then and there, but I knew the romance was coming so I just skimmed the dudebro's chapters. I did, however, read enough to notice that like 95% of stuff coming out of his mouth was racist nicknames and objectification and insults to women. And it's one thing that his dudebro friends barely objected to this behavior, but he had one female friend who was just like oh he's not so bad when you get to know him. And she was otherwise a smart discerning girl. Like, seriously? I'm supposed to buy that? To add insult to injury, throughout the course of the book even the girl he keeps calling a racist nickname among other things somehow becomes friends with him, even though he doesn't change his behavior in any significant way. Like, it's somehow charming that he's a racist asshole who only talks to women to objectify them and to have sex with them? Like, sure, he does a couple barely decent things, like letting her crash at his guest house, meanwhile this girl fucking bails him out of a drunk tank and solves a bunch of problems for him to a rather great personal cost to herself, as it turns out. But no one points that out. Somehow, over the course of the book he becomes just slightly less of an asshole (still uses racist nicknames though), and I could appreciate this type of arc if he suffered some sort of significant personal consequence for his actions, but he didn't.
So, onto the half of the book that was actually kind of enjoyable. Vanessa's story line was quite interesting. I liked the portrayal of what it's like to be a young actress of color in Hollywood and the pressure coming with that, especially concerning the public image one is pressured to maintain. One good thing Josh's POV gave this story is to show how much more a white straight dudebro can get away with compared to queer actors of color.
I enjoyed Vanessa's self-discovery and coming out arc, which was obviously the key of this book. I appreciated that the major source of panic and apprehension in this case wasn't so much they gay thing but more the choice Vanessa had to make in respect to whether publicly come out or not. I liked that she waffled a bit on that, how important it was to her to protect her career.
I also liked the portrayal of behind-the-scenes Hollywood life. And the relationship between the two love interests was cute. They were both vulnerable despite one of them having more experience in that respect, I liked that. Oh, and the emphasis on continuous consent during sex was lovely too.
First, I sure would like to know what went through the author's head when choosing to write a sapphic romance told from two POVs and make one of those POVs the most obnoxious mysoginistic racist dudebro on the planet? Like, how would that be appealing to a target audience for a sapphic romance? What's worse, the book starts off with the chapter from the dudebro's perspective and I almost stopped reading then and there, but I knew the romance was coming so I just skimmed the dudebro's chapters. I did, however, read enough to notice that like 95% of stuff coming out of his mouth was racist nicknames and objectification and insults to women. And it's one thing that his dudebro friends barely objected to this behavior, but he had one female friend who was just like oh he's not so bad when you get to know him. And she was otherwise a smart discerning girl. Like, seriously? I'm supposed to buy that? To add insult to injury, throughout the course of the book even the girl he keeps calling a racist nickname among other things somehow becomes friends with him, even though he doesn't change his behavior in any significant way. Like, it's somehow charming that he's a racist asshole who only talks to women to objectify them and to have sex with them? Like, sure, he does a couple barely decent things, like letting her crash at his guest house, meanwhile this girl fucking bails him out of a drunk tank and solves a bunch of problems for him to a rather great personal cost to herself, as it turns out. But no one points that out. Somehow, over the course of the book he becomes just slightly less of an asshole (still uses racist nicknames though), and I could appreciate this type of arc if he suffered some sort of significant personal consequence for his actions, but he didn't.
So, onto the half of the book that was actually kind of enjoyable. Vanessa's story line was quite interesting. I liked the portrayal of what it's like to be a young actress of color in Hollywood and the pressure coming with that, especially concerning the public image one is pressured to maintain. One good thing Josh's POV gave this story is to show how much more a white straight dudebro can get away with compared to queer actors of color.
I enjoyed Vanessa's self-discovery and coming out arc, which was obviously the key of this book. I appreciated that the major source of panic and apprehension in this case wasn't so much they gay thing but more the choice Vanessa had to make in respect to whether publicly come out or not. I liked that she waffled a bit on that, how important it was to her to protect her career.
I also liked the portrayal of behind-the-scenes Hollywood life. And the relationship between the two love interests was cute. They were both vulnerable despite one of them having more experience in that respect, I liked that. Oh, and the emphasis on continuous consent during sex was lovely too.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny and Racism
Minor: Homophobia and Drug use
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