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ahopelessreader 's review for:
She Drives Me Crazy
by Kelly Quindlen
Okay, first things first. Say it with me kids: lesbian. Les-bi-an. It's not a bad or dirty word. I know that's a weird note to open this review on, but it's the thing that sticks out to me the most; that in this sapphic book with two wlw where no expression of being attracted to men is said anywhere, the word lesbian isn't used once. The word gay is used a few times (sometimes in conjunction with a HP reference and like... yikes), but never lesbian. And of course, people aren't obligated to pick a label or anything, but I do find it odd that not once in this whole book does the word lesbian come up once.
Moving on, let's talk about the other big elephant in the room before we get to the other, smaller things I want to talk about: I don't like how this relationship began. Now, if you know me, you KNOW I love a good fake dating trope. I live for that shit. But the thing that stopped me right in my tracks this time was the very beginning. The fact that Irene was going to have to out herself to help Scottie with her plan. And while I won't say Scottie necessarily outed her in the traditional sense, I do think she very clearly and obviously coerced her into coming out and I hate that. That was a bad look from the very beginning. And a hard pill to swallow to get behind this couple at all.
The other thing I thought was off about the book was the pacing. It seemed like for a really, really large chunk of this book, Scottie just did not like her love interest, until maybe the last like 20% or so. Irene warmed up around Scottie much quicker and it did give the relationship a little bit of imbalance. A lot of the plots were dragged out for a good chunk of the book and then solved really quickly in the last few chapters. I think it made the characters and the relationship suffer.
I don't have any major complaints about Scottie or Irene or their relationship, even before the last 20% when Scottie for sure knew she liked her. I liked their banter and thought it was cute and fluffy and I honestly wish we got to see more of it. I liked how messy a lot of the relationships were and wish we got to see more of those too. I really just think the pacing was the problem here.
Overall, this was kind of a bust for me. But it is a fairly quick read if you're interested in picking it up at all.
Moving on, let's talk about the other big elephant in the room before we get to the other, smaller things I want to talk about: I don't like how this relationship began. Now, if you know me, you KNOW I love a good fake dating trope. I live for that shit. But the thing that stopped me right in my tracks this time was the very beginning. The fact that Irene was going to have to out herself to help Scottie with her plan. And while I won't say Scottie necessarily outed her in the traditional sense, I do think she very clearly and obviously coerced her into coming out and I hate that. That was a bad look from the very beginning. And a hard pill to swallow to get behind this couple at all.
The other thing I thought was off about the book was the pacing. It seemed like for a really, really large chunk of this book, Scottie just did not like her love interest, until maybe the last like 20% or so. Irene warmed up around Scottie much quicker and it did give the relationship a little bit of imbalance. A lot of the plots were dragged out for a good chunk of the book and then solved really quickly in the last few chapters. I think it made the characters and the relationship suffer.
I don't have any major complaints about Scottie or Irene or their relationship, even before the last 20% when Scottie for sure knew she liked her. I liked their banter and thought it was cute and fluffy and I honestly wish we got to see more of it. I liked how messy a lot of the relationships were and wish we got to see more of those too. I really just think the pacing was the problem here.
Overall, this was kind of a bust for me. But it is a fairly quick read if you're interested in picking it up at all.