A review by thestorydragon
I Think They Love You by Julian Winters

emotional hopeful lighthearted tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3  🌶️

Pros:
✨Braylon
✨Distinct Characters

Cons:
✨Flashback Chapters Halt Plot Progress
✨Protagonist's Character Development
✨Connection to / Interest in Characters
✨ CEO Contest Contrived 
 

Set in both the past and the present, we follow rich party planner Denz as he competes against his sister to become the next CEO of their father’s company. To prove he has his head on his shoulders, he ends up fake dating an old flame--the one who broke his heart.

I wanted to love this. Between the synopsis and this gorgeous cover art, I was hooked from the moment this book crossed my radar. Unfortunately, so much of it had me scrunching my nose. The two main things that drew me out of the novel were the chapters from the past, and the present competition to become CEO.

Exploring the past relationship between Denz and Bray in long flashbacks halted plot progress. Nothing happened that couldn’t have been summed up in the present as BrayLON (new, improved, back from London with an ... accent?) and Denz worked to heal old wounds. In fact, because we spend so much time in the past, we get less time with our characters rekindling their feelings and working through the pitfalls of their younger selves. I would have loved to learn about the past relationship while IN the present, as Denz and Braylon faced the moments that tore them apart. Instead, these chapters steal the opportunity for character development without being additive.

Kami obviously deserved to be CEO. Denz was a mess, and the competition felt odd because I wasn’t rooting for our protagonist.

In fact, I was going to be enraged if Denz did win.

I think the experience of the competition was meant to force Denz to work through his character flaws, but the events happened so fast, and Denz continuously dropped the ball during them, so there didn’t seem to be much personal improvement. He felt the same at the end of the novel as he did at the beginning, despite having a new perspective on life. Which kind of made the contest feel pointless ....

Everything about this fell flat for me, and I never fully engaged with Denz. The writing was fine and the secondary characters were great, but I was relieved to be done with this one.