A review by waterbear0821
Love at First Set by Jennifer Dugan

lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I am not a regular romance reader, so I know a lot of the things about this book that annoyed me are just standard tropes and I shouldn’t expect anything different. Specifically, I really hate the “bad communication skills  as a substitute for plot” trope. I’m a huge sucker for chosen family tropes, though, so that mostly evened out. The book is cute and fulfilled my need for brain candy to listen to while driving, but the primary defect is that there really isn’t enough plot for a novel. The dialogue was repetitive and excessively detailed, there was too much describing facial expressions and gestures, and the internal monologue of the main character just said the same things over and over.  Not only did that all make the book drag, but it made the characters seem one dimensional. It felt like a novice writer trying to hit their word count. Having said that, it’s serviceable light reading and probably plenty fun for fans of the genre. CW for toxic family and jealousy. 

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