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A review by whitneydr
Unbreak My Heart by K-lee Klein
2.0
I was hooked by the premise, but this book just turned out to be okay. It had my biggest romance writing pet peeve in it and it soured the book for me a bit.
I hate the “meddling friends and family members” trope with the power of a thousand suns. I even hate it more than insta-love. At least with insta-love, it can be done well and there are many exceptions to the rule. And if it’s a well-rounded story, insta-love doesn’t really seem that instant or there are other elements to the story that make the work exciting enough to over look it.
Unfortunately, “Unbreak My Heart” didn’t pull it off. What really grinds my gears about MFAFM trope, it that it ALWAYS takes away the main characters’ agency to figure shit out on their own. Without a doubt. I understand that Ray and Brett’s mom (forgetting her name, sorry) were loving and trying to be helpful, but their brand of help annoyed me to no end. Between the two of them with their “sage advice” and romance trickery, it took a lot for me to want to finish reading this book.
I really wanted Brett and JT to fall in love and sort through there issues on their own. I felt Brett and JT spent more time getting lectured by Ray and Brett’s mom than they did talking to each other. There seemed to be a lot more telling than showing when it came Brett and JT’s one-on-one times together. I would’ve liked to see more of Brett working through his grief and issues. It would’ve been cool to see them courting off the ranch; they go to dinner and a movie or something.
I also thought this book would’ve been more angsty, but it was actually really sappy. And when the conflict finally came up, it was so melodramatic and Brett reaction just seemed to come out of nowhere. I understand that he was going off of JT’s educational background, but other than being told about it, it never really came into play at all beforehand. But I’m glad the conflict wasn’t dragged out and was resolved relatively quickly.
My problems with this book overpowered the positives. And it felt too long with nothing really happening. Those aside, it was a relatively sweet story and I did like Brett and JT together. They were cute and endearing and definitely needed each other. I think my favorite aspect of the whole thing were the letters to Walt.
2.5 Stars
I hate the “meddling friends and family members” trope with the power of a thousand suns. I even hate it more than insta-love. At least with insta-love, it can be done well and there are many exceptions to the rule. And if it’s a well-rounded story, insta-love doesn’t really seem that instant or there are other elements to the story that make the work exciting enough to over look it.
Unfortunately, “Unbreak My Heart” didn’t pull it off. What really grinds my gears about MFAFM trope, it that it ALWAYS takes away the main characters’ agency to figure shit out on their own. Without a doubt. I understand that Ray and Brett’s mom (forgetting her name, sorry) were loving and trying to be helpful, but their brand of help annoyed me to no end. Between the two of them with their “sage advice” and romance trickery, it took a lot for me to want to finish reading this book.
I really wanted Brett and JT to fall in love and sort through there issues on their own. I felt Brett and JT spent more time getting lectured by Ray and Brett’s mom than they did talking to each other. There seemed to be a lot more telling than showing when it came Brett and JT’s one-on-one times together. I would’ve liked to see more of Brett working through his grief and issues. It would’ve been cool to see them courting off the ranch; they go to dinner and a movie or something.
I also thought this book would’ve been more angsty, but it was actually really sappy. And when the conflict finally came up, it was so melodramatic and Brett reaction just seemed to come out of nowhere. I understand that he was going off of JT’s educational background, but other than being told about it, it never really came into play at all beforehand. But I’m glad the conflict wasn’t dragged out and was resolved relatively quickly.
My problems with this book overpowered the positives. And it felt too long with nothing really happening. Those aside, it was a relatively sweet story and I did like Brett and JT together. They were cute and endearing and definitely needed each other. I think my favorite aspect of the whole thing were the letters to Walt.
2.5 Stars