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A review by isitcake
Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne
lighthearted
sad
fast-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
3.5
I loved The Hating Game, but this is not that. I put this down the first time I tried reading it. The FMC Ruthie is a 25-year-old but dresses like a grandma. This is very much a plain jane hiding a stunning hottie makeover trope book. She encounters MMC Teddy on a motorcycle. He initially mistakes her as an old woman before seeing how young she is. He follows her to where she works and he starts working there full time because twist his family owns their business/property. They bought it awhile ago intending to redevelop it but forgot about it. It's now on their radar because of Teddy. Teddy takes on a job there temporarily because he's saving to open his own tattoo parlor. Teddy is covered in tattoos, including the words Give and Take written on his hands.
While working for this old lesbian couple 12-hour days, he shares the adjoining duplex with Ruthie. He's one of those people who invades your space but is insanely charming while doing it. His meager interest in Ruthie quickly has her struggling to not fall in love with him because he's moving on eventually.
Ruthie's whole plot is that she was raised by religious parents, her father is a pastor, and after a church fundraiser that raised $10k and it went missing and Ruthie was blamed for failing to lock the door. Now she has an anxiety complex and obsessively locks all doors and makes checklists. Her parents used her college fund to offset the loss. She had wanted to go to school to be a vet but instead she took this job from Sophie, who was one of their churchmembers and suspiciously has been on a cruise forever since the money was taken.
Later the reveal of the book is that Sophie stole the money and has been stealing money from the retirement community she owns, falsifying the books and underpaying staff. When Teddy's sister audits the books she discovers this. The retirement community is also home to endangered turtles so that's what prevents them redeveloping it.
Ruthie also spends a lot of the book trying to "get back out there" and go dating. So there's makeover montages where suddenly changing her clothes she's the hottest thing ever. And everywhere warns Teddy and Ruthie away from each other because they're "all wrong for each other." But of course they get together at the end. Teddy has always lacked routine and normalcy in his life so he loves and plane and predictable Ruthie is (gag).
Plain jane is one of my least favorite tropes, and when the FMC is a shy, unexperienced near-virgin while the MMC is an insanely hot, modern-day rake. But I also love having sassy old people as side characters who provide lots of good banter. So even though I didn't love the plot this book was fun to read for the side characters.
While working for this old lesbian couple 12-hour days, he shares the adjoining duplex with Ruthie. He's one of those people who invades your space but is insanely charming while doing it. His meager interest in Ruthie quickly has her struggling to not fall in love with him because he's moving on eventually.
Ruthie's whole plot is that she was raised by religious parents, her father is a pastor, and after a church fundraiser that raised $10k and it went missing and Ruthie was blamed for failing to lock the door. Now she has an anxiety complex and obsessively locks all doors and makes checklists. Her parents used her college fund to offset the loss. She had wanted to go to school to be a vet but instead she took this job from Sophie, who was one of their churchmembers and suspiciously has been on a cruise forever since the money was taken.
Later the reveal of the book is that Sophie stole the money and has been stealing money from the retirement community she owns, falsifying the books and underpaying staff. When Teddy's sister audits the books she discovers this. The retirement community is also home to endangered turtles so that's what prevents them redeveloping it.
Ruthie also spends a lot of the book trying to "get back out there" and go dating. So there's makeover montages where suddenly changing her clothes she's the hottest thing ever. And everywhere warns Teddy and Ruthie away from each other because they're "all wrong for each other." But of course they get together at the end. Teddy has always lacked routine and normalcy in his life so he loves and plane and predictable Ruthie is (gag).
Plain jane is one of my least favorite tropes, and when the FMC is a shy, unexperienced near-virgin while the MMC is an insanely hot, modern-day rake. But I also love having sassy old people as side characters who provide lots of good banter. So even though I didn't love the plot this book was fun to read for the side characters.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Sexual content