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A review by aztlan
Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score
2.5
I have conflicting feelings about this book. On the one hand, I read 85% of it in a single day, and stayed up until 1:30am to finish it. On the other hand, I don't know why. There are some things I liked about this book, and some things I really, really, really did not.
I adored most (key word, most) of the characters in this book. More specifically, the side cast. I adored Waylay and Liza J and generally liked the other characters such as Sloane, Chloe and (usually) Nash. Waylay especially was a sweet feminine girl who'd had a very rough start to life, and I really loved seeing her grow and bloom throughout the novel. However, I really didn't care about Naomi, and I have several issues with Knox.
Naomi is your stereotypical 'sunshine girl', bubbly, optimistic and sweet. She also apparently has no personality other than loving coffee, being highly organised, and getting turned on by Knox. She does have a little bit of a spine when it comes to looking out for Waylay, but she generally relies on other people to solve all her problems throughout the book. Overall, she didn't have any qualities I found compelling, and more than a few that were annoying.
Knox is, to be frank, bordering on abusive and controlling. His whole schtick is that he's 'protective' of Naomi, and this manifests in him literally punching up his own brother because Nash dared look sideways at her long before Knox got involved with her, and generally trying to stop Naomi from doing things without his help or approval. Knox being like this is especially shitty becausethere's a whole thing about Naomi's ex-fiancée being physically abusive, and yet the emotional abuse is glorified? He also has some really stereotypical attitudes about women on their periods, with him avoiding his own damn bar when his all-female staff who have synced up are on their periods.
Now, why did I read so much of this in one day? Not sure. The first 70% or so could have easily been a third of the length and gotten the message across. Maybe if the build of their relationship had not revolved around Knox being controlling, I wouldn't have as many complaints about how much time was spent on it. The last 30% is most of the actual plot of the book, and suddenly became quite high stakes and far more compelling, for exactly 0 reasons related to the romance. I would have rathered the story focus on this plot line aboutTina's mistakes and her relationship to Naomi and Waylay than on Naomi's romance with Knox.
I adored most (key word, most) of the characters in this book. More specifically, the side cast. I adored Waylay and Liza J and generally liked the other characters such as Sloane, Chloe and (usually) Nash. Waylay especially was a sweet feminine girl who'd had a very rough start to life, and I really loved seeing her grow and bloom throughout the novel. However, I really didn't care about Naomi, and I have several issues with Knox.
Naomi is your stereotypical 'sunshine girl', bubbly, optimistic and sweet. She also apparently has no personality other than loving coffee, being highly organised, and getting turned on by Knox. She does have a little bit of a spine when it comes to looking out for Waylay, but she generally relies on other people to solve all her problems throughout the book. Overall, she didn't have any qualities I found compelling, and more than a few that were annoying.
Knox is, to be frank, bordering on abusive and controlling. His whole schtick is that he's 'protective' of Naomi, and this manifests in him literally punching up his own brother because Nash dared look sideways at her long before Knox got involved with her, and generally trying to stop Naomi from doing things without his help or approval. Knox being like this is especially shitty because
Now, why did I read so much of this in one day? Not sure. The first 70% or so could have easily been a third of the length and gotten the message across. Maybe if the build of their relationship had not revolved around Knox being controlling, I wouldn't have as many complaints about how much time was spent on it. The last 30% is most of the actual plot of the book, and suddenly became quite high stakes and far more compelling, for exactly 0 reasons related to the romance. I would have rathered the story focus on this plot line about
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Physical abuse
This book somewhat glorifies emotional abuse, despite a character being demonised for being physically abusive. I strongly do not recommend this book if emotional abuse will be triggering for you.