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A review by jayecard
She Gets the Girl by Alyson Derrick, Rachael Lippincott
Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.
This book should work, but doesn't.
In concept, Alex is a woman with commitment issues due to emotional trauma who struggles to make relationships work. In practice, she's a walking red flag who finds it "challenging" not to "accidentally" flirt with other girls.
In concept, Molly is an awkward goody two shoes who can't talk to her crush. In practice, she gives up at any minor inconvenience to feel sorry for herself, then thinks that she shouldn't do that, and then does it again.
I like flawed characters. I do not like it when I'm meant to sympathize with characters who know exactly what their problem in life is and then do nothing about it anyway. It's "okay", because those problems go away when they meet each other. And I absolutely hate how this book treated Alex's and Molly's false love interests: One has her character retconned entirely, the other gets strung along all story and then left standing alone with no explanation.
The dialogue is just forced enough to feel off. The way Molly is put in egretiously awkward situations for the sake of making her look like a sad puppy gets annoying way too fast. Bestie, you're not the doormat, you're a floor black hole. The only person sabotaging her is herself, yet it feels like we're meant to sympathize with her for all the hard situations she's in. Girl, if you went to sit in the back, because your crush didn't hear you when you asked: "Is this seat taken?", then you most literally only have yourself to blame. I know it's hard, but at some point, you have to put in the effort. Which is her entire character arc, which becomes all the more insufferable by how she knows EXACTLY that this is her problem from the very beginning, and then spends the entire book doing fuckall about it, until Alex literally forces her.
There are redeeming qualities in this book, but I was looking for a cute queer read, and I got so thoroughly disappointed and had to DNF (I skimmed the rest) the book and go write an angry rant. If you want the aesthetics of a cute romance, this is ok. If you want a romance with well written characters, you can find better.
In concept, Alex is a woman with commitment issues due to emotional trauma who struggles to make relationships work. In practice, she's a walking red flag who finds it "challenging" not to "accidentally" flirt with other girls.
In concept, Molly is an awkward goody two shoes who can't talk to her crush. In practice, she gives up at any minor inconvenience to feel sorry for herself, then thinks that she shouldn't do that, and then does it again.
I like flawed characters. I do not like it when I'm meant to sympathize with characters who know exactly what their problem in life is and then do nothing about it anyway. It's "okay", because those problems go away when they meet each other. And I absolutely hate how this book treated Alex's and Molly's false love interests: One has her character retconned entirely, the other gets strung along all story and then left standing alone with no explanation.
The dialogue is just forced enough to feel off. The way Molly is put in egretiously awkward situations for the sake of making her look like a sad puppy gets annoying way too fast. Bestie, you're not the doormat, you're a floor black hole. The only person sabotaging her is herself, yet it feels like we're meant to sympathize with her for all the hard situations she's in. Girl, if you went to sit in the back, because your crush didn't hear you when you asked: "Is this seat taken?", then you most literally only have yourself to blame. I know it's hard, but at some point, you have to put in the effort. Which is her entire character arc, which becomes all the more insufferable by how she knows EXACTLY that this is her problem from the very beginning, and then spends the entire book doing fuckall about it, until Alex literally forces her.
There are redeeming qualities in this book, but I was looking for a cute queer read, and I got so thoroughly disappointed and had to DNF (I skimmed the rest) the book and go write an angry rant. If you want the aesthetics of a cute romance, this is ok. If you want a romance with well written characters, you can find better.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Abandonment, and Alcohol