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feelinsoso 's review for:
Truly Madly Deeply
by L.J. Shen
I have a whole list of things I did not enjoy while reading this book. What I did enjoy though is Shen's writing style, which I loved in the Dark Prince Road series (which she co-wrote with PS Huntington), and shines especially through the character's banter, snappy dialogues, fun similes, and laugh-out-loud moments. The plot was also somewhat consistent for a contemporary romance novel, and went a little beyond the main characters' relationship, which I appreciated.
Now onto the negative stuff. Row's personality was an exaggeration of everything that is usually passable in grumpy MCs, and that spoiled his relationship with everyone else in the book, in my opinion. It also made his relationship with Calla hard to believe, which is a shame because that scene in the beginning (the infamous car hood scene) showed a personality that could have developed into something way more palatable. The author has taken the grumpy/sunshine trope and torn it apart - how Cal could take his shit and still keep a smile on her face is beyond me, and absolutely unrealistic.
Cal's anxiety is also oddly explained - we are told throughout the story that she went through some kind of ordeal in high school, and suffers from severe PTSD as a consequence, whenever she is around strange men. When we are finally told what really happened, it turns out
Finally, I hated the ending.
What saved the day was definitely the writing and entertaining dialogues (and really hot scenes too). I'll try other books by the same author for sure, as it could easily be a miss for me bc I did not click with the characters.
Now onto the negative stuff. Row's personality was an exaggeration of everything that is usually passable in grumpy MCs, and that spoiled his relationship with everyone else in the book, in my opinion. It also made his relationship with Calla hard to believe, which is a shame because that scene in the beginning (the infamous car hood scene) showed a personality that could have developed into something way more palatable. The author has taken the grumpy/sunshine trope and torn it apart - how Cal could take his shit and still keep a smile on her face is beyond me, and absolutely unrealistic.
Cal's anxiety is also oddly explained - we are told throughout the story that she went through some kind of ordeal in high school, and suffers from severe PTSD as a consequence, whenever she is around strange men. When we are finally told what really happened, it turns out
Spoiler
she was assaulted by a group of women, who bullied her so much they almost killed her, after breaking her ankle. She even acknowledges that it does not really make sense for her to be uncomfortable around men while her tormentors were women, but explains it away with something her therapist said about women being the ones who saved her in the end - which sounds like a feeble rationalization to me. I don't know why that particular bit annoyed me, but I do not understand why the author did not just include a man in the group of bullies?Finally, I hated the ending.
Spoiler
This big moment in her mother's kitchen, where Calla has an epiphany and "realizes" that she has loved Row all these years? Eye roll. Stupidest scene ever.What saved the day was definitely the writing and entertaining dialogues (and really hot scenes too). I'll try other books by the same author for sure, as it could easily be a miss for me bc I did not click with the characters.