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A review by josb
Table for Two by Kate Gavin
2.0
This was a big miss for me. There are a lot of reasons I can go into as to why I did not connect with it, but the main reason was that the author spent time expanding on certain descriptions and topics and not others. In one scene we might learn that the place where takeout was ordered was so generous with dish sizes that the MC's shared a single dish but in another scene one of the MC's comments about running late for an appointment with no mention of access to a clock. This made it incredibly difficult to understand where the characters were and what they were doing. I felt like I constantly had to fill in unnecessary gaps.
Taking this a step further, we are introduced to some intense backstory makeup for both the MC's and it just fell a little...flat. I was excited to watch a true ice queen, but felt like we missed out on the internal monologue that would make a person growing up with people who were emotionally unavailable unique. One of the MC's is dealing with a parent's inevitable passing and instead of describing those intense emotions, we get told that the pain and frustration of this scenario was eased by having a connection with a partner.
Not something I would recommend if you have personal experience with preparing to lose a parent or the emotional unavailability of immediate family since the depth into both scenarios is a little more surface level. I think if you are looking for a romance first and foremost, with the backstories used more as a way to fill out the characters but not as the driving motivation for character reactions you will probably really enjoy this novel.
Taking this a step further, we are introduced to some intense backstory makeup for both the MC's and it just fell a little...flat. I was excited to watch a true ice queen, but felt like we missed out on the internal monologue that would make a person growing up with people who were emotionally unavailable unique. One of the MC's is dealing with a parent's inevitable passing and instead of describing those intense emotions, we get told that the pain and frustration of this scenario was eased by having a connection with a partner.
Not something I would recommend if you have personal experience with preparing to lose a parent or the emotional unavailability of immediate family since the depth into both scenarios is a little more surface level. I think if you are looking for a romance first and foremost, with the backstories used more as a way to fill out the characters but not as the driving motivation for character reactions you will probably really enjoy this novel.