A review by holysmokesitsboo
The Idea of You by Robinne Lee

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Wanted to read bc I knew it was another Harry styles fanfiction turned novel and I was excited to see the movie coming out but honestly the book gave some pretty bad ick. The age gap, while I knew it was going to be a big part of it was wayyy larger than I imagined (he’s 20 to her 39.5, both having birthdays to put them at 21 and 40) and it was kind of hard to stomach. There was also just a lot of gross commentary on the age gap that didn’t help the narrative that this wasn’t lowkey predatory.  Ultimately they were both two consenting adults, yes, but it didn’t read well for age gap relationships in my opinion. I do think it was realistic and very well written and the author is a phenomenal audiobook reader, I absolutely loved her voice and narration skills! I’m sad the story has ended and I wish there was more to it bc I was not ready to leave the story behind. I’d love to read more of her work and if she goes more into audiobook reading that’d be phenomenal. 

Ending spoiler bc I have a lot of thoughts so do not open if you don’t want big ending spoilers. 

Also I’m not a fan of unhappy endings and for me to sit through this and watch solene pursue this relationship knowing full well what it would entail to an extent and being warned the effect it would have on her daughter and they still don’t end up together??? Bullshit. She was literally past the point of no return, she weathered the big storm like breaking up with him at that point wasn’t going to stop her daughter from being bullied or change the outcome. And he literally quits the band for her and she sends him off??? The ending was wretched. I hope this is the one time I can say that the movie is better than the book bvc this one made me so mad.