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thewordslinger 's review for:
The Chase
by Elle Kennedy
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Until the 90% mark, I was prepared to say this was just a me-thing. That I just didn't vibe with this book.
But you know what? No. I fucking hated this book.
The first third of this book is literally just the FMC flirting with, making out with, ogling, or talking to (in a way that could be misunderstood) with every other dude in this world. She ends up spooning in be with the dude she kissed in the beginning of the story, even.
And Fitz isn't an angel either - he agrees to go on dates with other women, too. Literally the first 60% of this book, these two are just throwing it at everybody else in the story.
Why are we wasting our time watching this chick flirt with everybody else when we're supposed to be reading a romance?
Halfway through the story, Summer's got her hand on Fitzy's junk, then immediately agrees to go on a Valentine's Day date with Hunter - Hunter, who's Fitzy's teammate. Then she turns right around and makes out with Fitzy (and blows him) in the locker room.
It's this sort of back and forth vibe in books that gave me the ick. Her inability to make her mind up (whether she wants to fight for Fitzy or settle with Hunter, even though he doesn't get her going the way Fitzy does) pits 2 friends, teammates, and housemates against each other. It was immature, thoughtless, and frankly...gross. It didn't make her an FMC worth rooting for, in my mind.
And the way she abandons a date with Hunter - hurting him in the process - just go return to the house and screw Fitzy? Eugh.
Maybe that was meant to be hot or sweet or whatever the hell...but it wasn't.
How is this book all about the chase when for over half of it - for literally 70% of it, homegirl doesn't know which dick to sit on?
And then at 70% of the way through, bam. We get smut. No build up, no dramatic discussion and listing of terms no relationship. Girl just takes her clothes off and crawls into bed with Fitzy.
And when things kick off with Hunter - Fitzy has the <i>audacity</i> to go <b>"If it were Hollis or Tuck, maybe I'd handle the situation differently, talk to them, try harder to fix shit. But Hunter and I, while friends, aren't super close. He's got a great sense of humor and he's fun to be around, but the truth is, I don't know him very well." </b>
Dude, he had the courtesy to come to you, ask if you were alright with him pursuing Summer and you said yeah, it's fine. THEN you spend the rest of the book conveniently forgetting that he's interested every time you interact with Summer. Denying your feelings for her every time Hunter brings it up - and the instant Hunter gets rejected by Summer, you sleep with her.
And your justification is just "eh well, we aren't that close anyways"????? What a shitty thing to do to a friend, housemate, and teammate.
It doesn't matter that Summer also played her part in dicking him around.
Maybe that's what Makes Fitzy and Summer so perfect together - they're both sort of terrible human beings. She uses Hunter for comfort, knowing full well he's into her, then drops him like a hot potato to go screw his friend who's spent months denying his own feelings for her.
https://i0.wp.com/foolishwatcher.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/dowager-countess-disapprove-harumph.gif
Okay okay so icky main characters aside, here's some rapid-fire things I DID enjoy about this book:
1. Brenna. Fucking Brenna!
2. Summer standing up for her girls - she IS a girls' girl, even when she's fighting one.
3. The learning disability/ADHD rep.
4. The glimpses we got of Garrett and the gang throughout the story. Loved seeing what those guys were up to.
5. The absolute demolishing of misogynistic men that happens - both with Summer's professor and Fitzy's would-be employer.
Annnnd for good measure - some "smaller" things I hated that weren't necessarily related to the main couple:
1. Pacing. Nothing fucking happened in this book outside of the girl playing 2 dudes and flirting with like 17 other ones and the MMC not using his words to confess his feelings then fucking over his housemate/teammate by taking the girl he's interested in and not giving a single goddamn about it.
2. Woof. The Coco Chanel stuff. Summer idolizes her, defends her against the 'allegations' that she was a Nazi sympathizer. This is NOT the look, Ms. Kennedy. You could have chosen ANY other designer. Literally ANYONE else. Instead, you have our FMC supporting a known Nazi lover. Girl. Do better.
3. Dean's reaction to Fitz - kneeing him in the balls over some weird patriarchal family honor...how dare you defile my little sister?! bullshit.
4. Nora. She's the absolute epitome of the "other woman" trope. Constantly degrading Summer, being snide and gross with her - all because Summer is apparently conventionally pretty and wealthy. It's extra wild, because this chick is described as a radical sort of feminist throughout the story, but actively degrades, belittles, judges and puts another woman in a precarious situation with a man. Sorry - that's not feminism. The fact that she's in a shitty situation herself and Summer is the one to save her - you've gotta be kidding me. This book simply isn't deep enough or long enough to go into exactly what happens with Nora and Summer and Laurie - the creepy professor. Wild that Kennedy would set us up to loathe Nora, then have her assaulted, to try and make us sympathize with her??? But there's hardly any foundation for the shift and it comes out of nowhere? I'm so sorry. I can't deal with this in an already crap romance book.
5. ALSO WHERE ARE THE TRIGGER WARNINGS?!
6. And while I'm going on about Nora - we immediately lose her voice in this narrative. She's the victim - the SURVIVOR. And the whole story instead surrounds Summer. SUMMER becomes the hero. And Nora is sidelined. What the FUCK sort of message is Kennedy trying to send here? WHY is this included in this story?! This whole plotline is messy, sloppy, half-assed, and very VERY poorly handled. If you're going to include a side character who gets almost-raped by an authority figure in your story. LET HER TELL HER OWN GODDAMNED STORY. DO NOT TAKE HER VOICE AWAY FROM HER. Fuck.
I swear, Elle Kennedy and I are in an abusive relationship. She'll feed me and love me and wrap me up nice and cozy with one book, then slap me around and call me a whore and kick me out of the house in the rain with the next. And my dumbass keeps coming back for more.
Because you bet I'm reading Brenna's book. I'm DYING to see her and Jake's story.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
But you know what? No. I fucking hated this book.
The first third of this book is literally just the FMC flirting with, making out with, ogling, or talking to (in a way that could be misunderstood) with every other dude in this world. She ends up spooning in be with the dude she kissed in the beginning of the story, even.
And Fitz isn't an angel either - he agrees to go on dates with other women, too. Literally the first 60% of this book, these two are just throwing it at everybody else in the story.
Why are we wasting our time watching this chick flirt with everybody else when we're supposed to be reading a romance?
Halfway through the story, Summer's got her hand on Fitzy's junk, then immediately agrees to go on a Valentine's Day date with Hunter - Hunter, who's Fitzy's teammate. Then she turns right around and makes out with Fitzy (and blows him) in the locker room.
It's this sort of back and forth vibe in books that gave me the ick. Her inability to make her mind up (whether she wants to fight for Fitzy or settle with Hunter, even though he doesn't get her going the way Fitzy does) pits 2 friends, teammates, and housemates against each other. It was immature, thoughtless, and frankly...gross. It didn't make her an FMC worth rooting for, in my mind.
And the way she abandons a date with Hunter - hurting him in the process - just go return to the house and screw Fitzy? Eugh.
Maybe that was meant to be hot or sweet or whatever the hell...but it wasn't.
How is this book all about the chase when for over half of it - for literally 70% of it, homegirl doesn't know which dick to sit on?
And then at 70% of the way through, bam. We get smut. No build up, no dramatic discussion and listing of terms no relationship. Girl just takes her clothes off and crawls into bed with Fitzy.
And when things kick off with Hunter - Fitzy has the <i>audacity</i> to go <b>"If it were Hollis or Tuck, maybe I'd handle the situation differently, talk to them, try harder to fix shit. But Hunter and I, while friends, aren't super close. He's got a great sense of humor and he's fun to be around, but the truth is, I don't know him very well." </b>
Dude, he had the courtesy to come to you, ask if you were alright with him pursuing Summer and you said yeah, it's fine. THEN you spend the rest of the book conveniently forgetting that he's interested every time you interact with Summer. Denying your feelings for her every time Hunter brings it up - and the instant Hunter gets rejected by Summer, you sleep with her.
And your justification is just "eh well, we aren't that close anyways"????? What a shitty thing to do to a friend, housemate, and teammate.
It doesn't matter that Summer also played her part in dicking him around.
Maybe that's what Makes Fitzy and Summer so perfect together - they're both sort of terrible human beings. She uses Hunter for comfort, knowing full well he's into her, then drops him like a hot potato to go screw his friend who's spent months denying his own feelings for her.
https://i0.wp.com/foolishwatcher.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/dowager-countess-disapprove-harumph.gif
Okay okay so icky main characters aside, here's some rapid-fire things I DID enjoy about this book:
1. Brenna. Fucking Brenna!
2. Summer standing up for her girls - she IS a girls' girl, even when she's fighting one.
3. The learning disability/ADHD rep.
4. The glimpses we got of Garrett and the gang throughout the story. Loved seeing what those guys were up to.
5. The absolute demolishing of misogynistic men that happens - both with Summer's professor and Fitzy's would-be employer.
Annnnd for good measure - some "smaller" things I hated that weren't necessarily related to the main couple:
1. Pacing. Nothing fucking happened in this book outside of the girl playing 2 dudes and flirting with like 17 other ones and the MMC not using his words to confess his feelings then fucking over his housemate/teammate by taking the girl he's interested in and not giving a single goddamn about it.
2. Woof. The Coco Chanel stuff. Summer idolizes her, defends her against the 'allegations' that she was a Nazi sympathizer. This is NOT the look, Ms. Kennedy. You could have chosen ANY other designer. Literally ANYONE else. Instead, you have our FMC supporting a known Nazi lover. Girl. Do better.
3. Dean's reaction to Fitz - kneeing him in the balls over some weird patriarchal family honor...how dare you defile my little sister?! bullshit.
4. Nora. She's the absolute epitome of the "other woman" trope. Constantly degrading Summer, being snide and gross with her - all because Summer is apparently conventionally pretty and wealthy. It's extra wild, because this chick is described as a radical sort of feminist throughout the story, but actively degrades, belittles, judges and puts another woman in a precarious situation with a man. Sorry - that's not feminism. The fact that she's in a shitty situation herself and Summer is the one to save her - you've gotta be kidding me. This book simply isn't deep enough or long enough to go into exactly what happens with Nora and Summer and Laurie - the creepy professor. Wild that Kennedy would set us up to loathe Nora, then have her assaulted, to try and make us sympathize with her??? But there's hardly any foundation for the shift and it comes out of nowhere? I'm so sorry. I can't deal with this in an already crap romance book.
5. ALSO WHERE ARE THE TRIGGER WARNINGS?!
6. And while I'm going on about Nora - we immediately lose her voice in this narrative. She's the victim - the SURVIVOR. And the whole story instead surrounds Summer. SUMMER becomes the hero. And Nora is sidelined. What the FUCK sort of message is Kennedy trying to send here? WHY is this included in this story?! This whole plotline is messy, sloppy, half-assed, and very VERY poorly handled. If you're going to include a side character who gets almost-raped by an authority figure in your story. LET HER TELL HER OWN GODDAMNED STORY. DO NOT TAKE HER VOICE AWAY FROM HER. Fuck.
I swear, Elle Kennedy and I are in an abusive relationship. She'll feed me and love me and wrap me up nice and cozy with one book, then slap me around and call me a whore and kick me out of the house in the rain with the next. And my dumbass keeps coming back for more.
Because you bet I'm reading Brenna's book. I'm DYING to see her and Jake's story.
What the fuck is wrong with me?