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merlin_reads 's review for:
The Boy Next Door
by Katie Van Ark
Umm.. so yeah, I wasn't a fan of this book. What I wanted was a swoony romance surrounded by ice skating. What I got was two people who were kind of horrible to each other and a bunch of whining.
Let me just say, I love ice skating. I grew up watching it in the Winter Olympics and just love the sport - watching it, not doing because I'm a horrible skater. So I was super excited to pick this one up. And that cover is just adorable. But as I kept reading, I found that I was just getting more and more annoyed with the characters and just wanted the book to end.
Maddy and Gabe have been skating partners and best friends since pretty much birth. But as they so often do, feelings get involved. First with Maddy. Over the years she's watched as Gabe treated women like shit. He'd go on a date, get what he wanted, then use Maddy to break up with them. And she just did it. But when she suddenly decides she's in love with him, she just throws herself at him and is all shocked when he's scared of relationships. It was painful to read. Like I am all for a woman going after what she wants, and if a girl is brave enough to ask out a guy, then go for it! But Maddy was...how do I put it, just sad. And she also kept flipping back and forth between the throwing herself at him to the I want nothing to do with him.
Gabe wasn't any better. He was just a sleez. No girl wants to be kept a secret. But that's all Gabe could give Maddy, a secret relationship. Where even in his mind, he accepted that he would be done with her in two weeks. I'm sorry but no. Nothing about him was swoony and I thought Maddy could do much better.
The author tried to add in other elements such as family drama and friend drama. But it all seemed superficial. Their two friends and skating partners were not very nice people either and they had a very toxic relationship. Then the family drama was almost added as an after thought because while it seemed serious, nothing really came of it. So I was just left going ... huh.
This was my final book of 2020 and I'm sad I didn't go out on a higher note.
Let me just say, I love ice skating. I grew up watching it in the Winter Olympics and just love the sport - watching it, not doing because I'm a horrible skater. So I was super excited to pick this one up. And that cover is just adorable. But as I kept reading, I found that I was just getting more and more annoyed with the characters and just wanted the book to end.
Maddy and Gabe have been skating partners and best friends since pretty much birth. But as they so often do, feelings get involved. First with Maddy. Over the years she's watched as Gabe treated women like shit. He'd go on a date, get what he wanted, then use Maddy to break up with them. And she just did it. But when she suddenly decides she's in love with him, she just throws herself at him and is all shocked when he's scared of relationships. It was painful to read. Like I am all for a woman going after what she wants, and if a girl is brave enough to ask out a guy, then go for it! But Maddy was...how do I put it, just sad. And she also kept flipping back and forth between the throwing herself at him to the I want nothing to do with him.
Gabe wasn't any better. He was just a sleez. No girl wants to be kept a secret. But that's all Gabe could give Maddy, a secret relationship. Where even in his mind, he accepted that he would be done with her in two weeks. I'm sorry but no. Nothing about him was swoony and I thought Maddy could do much better.
The author tried to add in other elements such as family drama and friend drama. But it all seemed superficial. Their two friends and skating partners were not very nice people either and they had a very toxic relationship. Then the family drama was almost added as an after thought because while it seemed serious, nothing really came of it. So I was just left going ... huh.
This was my final book of 2020 and I'm sad I didn't go out on a higher note.