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A review by wolfiereads
No Words by Meg Cabot
2.0
Great for a light beach read but not if you're looking for something substantial or memorable.
Personally, I wasn't a fan of this and struggled past the halfway mark to keep reading until giving up. The concept is original but poorly executed. The characters were thinly written and felt more like character molds than real people. The heroine, Jo, is petty and juvenile and the male hero is cowardly. The enemies-to-lovers troupe here is one sided, as the grudge is mostly fabricated by Jo and her supposed hatred towards him feels awkward since it's obvious she's obsessed with him.
I used to love Cabot's writing style, but it's apparent (at least, in this book) that her tone is best suited for young adult books and not older crowds. Jo's constant references in her inner monologue to the kids book series she pens got old fast and were quite strange, honestly. It's almost like, no wonder this woman can't let go of the past, accept an apology and move on - she has the emotional maturity level of an eight year old. She's not totally unlikeable, but it was hard to empathize with her and made me question why she was written like this.
Cabot's over-explanation of what's happening and unnecessary inclusion of details were frustrating to read. Excellent writing is being able to convey something through context clues, basically trusting the reader will piece it together themselves without having to be told outright. At a certain point, writing that's bloated with too many details and explanations is exhausting to want to finish.
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow and Custom House for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Personally, I wasn't a fan of this and struggled past the halfway mark to keep reading until giving up. The concept is original but poorly executed. The characters were thinly written and felt more like character molds than real people. The heroine, Jo, is petty and juvenile and the male hero is cowardly. The enemies-to-lovers troupe here is one sided, as the grudge is mostly fabricated by Jo and her supposed hatred towards him feels awkward since it's obvious she's obsessed with him.
I used to love Cabot's writing style, but it's apparent (at least, in this book) that her tone is best suited for young adult books and not older crowds. Jo's constant references in her inner monologue to the kids book series she pens got old fast and were quite strange, honestly. It's almost like, no wonder this woman can't let go of the past, accept an apology and move on - she has the emotional maturity level of an eight year old. She's not totally unlikeable, but it was hard to empathize with her and made me question why she was written like this.
Cabot's over-explanation of what's happening and unnecessary inclusion of details were frustrating to read. Excellent writing is being able to convey something through context clues, basically trusting the reader will piece it together themselves without having to be told outright. At a certain point, writing that's bloated with too many details and explanations is exhausting to want to finish.
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow and Custom House for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.