A review by capeybara
The Big Rewind by Libby Cudmore

2.0

I liked the High Fidelity vibes I got from reading the blurb, and sometimes I like a fun murder-mystery—which is how this book started out for me. It was a quick and engaging read about a music journalist wannabe trying to make it in the big city who finds her next-door neighbor dead after mistakenly receiving a mix tape for her. I thought the protagonist's relationship with her straight guy BFF was a little unrealistic—they were super close, but he had no feelings for her, or vice versa??—but I was willing to let it slide.

Unfortunately, the second half of the book got kinda slut-shamey (calling girls dancing in Victoria's Secret slips skanks, etc.) and negative toward sex workers. I don't know if this was merely to show the narrator's flaws or what, but it didn't sit right with me. Plus

the guy she ends up with was in love with a stripper and not into our main girl until ... he gets beat up and realizes she was terrible?! and suddenly the narrator is willing to accept him with open arms?

So yeah, 2 stars for me.