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A review by chandlerwood
A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy, Sierra Simone
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
I like this book the most when I stop thinking critically about it. It had a really strong start for me and I LOVED the first 50% or so. At that point, the plot really started to drag to me, the side characters started grating on my nerves, and the miscommunication plot conflicts felt contrived and not believable.
My biggest gripes are:
1) the treatment of Kallum's sex tape leaking. You would think characters well-versed in sex work and consent would have a better take on this than encouraging people to watch the sex tape, congratulating the victim of the leak on his "performance", and being obsessed with his "dad bod". I hated how the book completely glossed over this invasion of privacy, and Bee and Nolan just made it about them. I especially hated Bee's comment about how her life is just one giant sex tape and that's why she didn't feel that bad for him. Uhh except you consented to the public consumption of your "sex tape". Kallum didn't. There was no real sympathy from anyone which felt disingenuous and not realistic given every character's own personal experiences.
And 2) the last 30% of the book just missed the mark for me. I expected Nolan and Bee's relationship development to feel more earned than it did, and looking back on the book as a whole now feels like Bee was just a sex object to Nolan for the majority of the book. The conflict of Nolan allowing Steph to release that truly disgusting PR statement and him acting blindsided that Bee was upset by it, especially coupled with the fact that these people only met two weeks ago, did not make the grand gesture of him professing his love for her on TV feel like he actually earned her forgiveness, much less that he actually loved her. I think the authors failed to develop Nolan and Bee's actual feelings for each other outside of sex and their own past fantasies of one another. I believe that they like each other, but did we really see them fall in love? Did we really even see them get to know each other at all?
Overall, I had a good time reading this book. I just didn't find the emotional payoff as gratifying as it could have been.
1) the treatment of Kallum's sex tape leaking. You would think characters well-versed in sex work and consent would have a better take on this than encouraging people to watch the sex tape, congratulating the victim of the leak on his "performance", and being obsessed with his "dad bod". I hated how the book completely glossed over this invasion of privacy, and Bee and Nolan just made it about them. I especially hated Bee's comment about how her life is just one giant sex tape and that's why she didn't feel that bad for him. Uhh except you consented to the public consumption of your "sex tape". Kallum didn't. There was no real sympathy from anyone which felt disingenuous and not realistic given every character's own personal experiences.
And 2) the last 30% of the book just missed the mark for me. I expected Nolan and Bee's relationship development to feel more earned than it did, and looking back on the book as a whole now feels like Bee was just a sex object to Nolan for the majority of the book. The conflict of Nolan allowing Steph to release that truly disgusting PR statement and him acting blindsided that Bee was upset by it, especially coupled with the fact that these people only met two weeks ago, did not make the grand gesture of him professing his love for her on TV feel like he actually earned her forgiveness, much less that he actually loved her. I think the authors failed to develop Nolan and Bee's actual feelings for each other outside of sex and their own past fantasies of one another. I believe that they like each other, but did we really see them fall in love? Did we really even see them get to know each other at all?
Overall, I had a good time reading this book. I just didn't find the emotional payoff as gratifying as it could have been.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Fatphobia