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A review by moonytoast
The Roughest Draft by Emily Wibberley, Austin Siegemund-Broka
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
i think some of y’all were lying when you said you enjoyed this better than Beach Read…….
now i want to come out of the gate with the fact that i do not think this book is bad and i enjoyed some parts of this story! the writing style is decent and i think the tension between the characters is compelling, but speaking of the characters... well, they're a bit bland. there's not much going on for these characters personality-wise besides their occupation and fervent need to write. katrina and nathan seem to only exist for two things: (1) writing, and (2) each other.
i'm a sucker for forced promixity and a Messy Contentious Past, but this just didn't really deliver on the second part. the ultimate reveal about the reason they split up as writing partners is SO DUMB.... truly astronomical levels of inane self-sabotage and unnecessary miscommunication. like part of me gets that katrina is scared of being happy and actually having a relationship with nathan, which they both know that they want—but then she convinces herself that what he wants isn't the real her, but a supposed "perfect fiction" of their potential relationship. GIRL WHERE DID YOU PULL THAT IDEA FROM????? AT WHAT POINT DID NATHAN EVER GIVE OFF THAT VIBE TO YOU??? and nathan you're not off the hook either! maybe this would have been solved easier if you didn't have to write your big love confession from the perspective of a whole SELF-INSERT fictional character
also at some point you really get tired of all the writing analogies this book throws at you
now i want to come out of the gate with the fact that i do not think this book is bad and i enjoyed some parts of this story! the writing style is decent and i think the tension between the characters is compelling, but speaking of the characters... well, they're a bit bland. there's not much going on for these characters personality-wise besides their occupation and fervent need to write. katrina and nathan seem to only exist for two things: (1) writing, and (2) each other.
i'm a sucker for forced promixity and a Messy Contentious Past, but this just didn't really deliver on the second part. the ultimate reveal about the reason they split up as writing partners is SO DUMB.... truly astronomical levels of inane self-sabotage and unnecessary miscommunication. like part of me gets that katrina is scared of being happy and actually having a relationship with nathan, which they both know that they want—but then she convinces herself that what he wants isn't the real her, but a supposed "perfect fiction" of their potential relationship. GIRL WHERE DID YOU PULL THAT IDEA FROM????? AT WHAT POINT DID NATHAN EVER GIVE OFF THAT VIBE TO YOU??? and nathan you're not off the hook either! maybe this would have been solved easier if you didn't have to write your big love confession from the perspective of a whole SELF-INSERT fictional character
also at some point you really get tired of all the writing analogies this book throws at you
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Sexual content