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fosteringfiction 's review for:
The Third Best Thing
by Maya Hughes
3.5 stars
I’ll start by saying I liked this more than the first book in this series, but it still wasn’t spectacular. We follow Jules and Berk, and their friends to lovers story. Jules is insecure in herself due to her emotionally abusive family, and Berk is carrying a lot of baggage as a former foster kid.
Now, I’m trying to think of how this book compares to the first on the series but I cannot remember a single thing about that book. I just know that Maya Hughes’ writing and the way she constructs her stories just isn’t for me. She does include some heavy topics, but I never really feel like her books have any real depth. And while I did enjoy this book and it’s plot a bit more than I was expecting, it was still pretty mediocre. I was especially turned off by Jules’ internal dialogue and the comments about other women because of her insecurities in herself. We got a couple of comments from her about thinner girls and they all fell along the lines of “she looks like she could eat whatever she wants. I kind of hated her already”. I’m a believer that combating body shaming does not come in the form of tearing down others who represent the opposite. It really tucked me out for the rest of the story. There was also way too many conflicts that felt unnecessary to me in this book. This book was short and they break up twice, which is just too much for me.
Overall, this wasn’t terrible, but it also wasn’t great. I just don’t think Maya Hughes is the author for me and I don’t feel like I need to pick up the rest of her books to solidify that. If you haven’t read any of her books and want a new adult sports romance, I’d recommend trying her books out and seeing where you fall.
I’ll start by saying I liked this more than the first book in this series, but it still wasn’t spectacular. We follow Jules and Berk, and their friends to lovers story. Jules is insecure in herself due to her emotionally abusive family, and Berk is carrying a lot of baggage as a former foster kid.
Now, I’m trying to think of how this book compares to the first on the series but I cannot remember a single thing about that book. I just know that Maya Hughes’ writing and the way she constructs her stories just isn’t for me. She does include some heavy topics, but I never really feel like her books have any real depth. And while I did enjoy this book and it’s plot a bit more than I was expecting, it was still pretty mediocre. I was especially turned off by Jules’ internal dialogue and the comments about other women because of her insecurities in herself. We got a couple of comments from her about thinner girls and they all fell along the lines of “she looks like she could eat whatever she wants. I kind of hated her already”. I’m a believer that combating body shaming does not come in the form of tearing down others who represent the opposite. It really tucked me out for the rest of the story. There was also way too many conflicts that felt unnecessary to me in this book. This book was short and they break up twice, which is just too much for me.
Overall, this wasn’t terrible, but it also wasn’t great. I just don’t think Maya Hughes is the author for me and I don’t feel like I need to pick up the rest of her books to solidify that. If you haven’t read any of her books and want a new adult sports romance, I’d recommend trying her books out and seeing where you fall.