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A review by booksbrewsandbarks
Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins
3.0
I am a big fan of Kristan Higgins but I also prepared myself that I may run into some books by here that just weren't up to par when I decided to dive into her backlist. Unfortunately, while Just One of the Guys is charming in parts, I cant say the same for the main character of Chastity. I really tried to like her and bond with her as a main female character but failed. With constant needless flaunting of her junk food habit where her reasoning was her workouts, she is that girl that everyone secretly can't stand in real life. As Higgins' later work shows the importance of health and accepting of one's body, this is a great exhibit of how an author's work can change over the years.
On top of the reason above, Chastity was extremely immature. I am already someone who dislikes lack of communication in a novel used a major plot progressor and she is guilty of this with not one but two men! Multiple times she acts like a child when it comes to romantic relationships and feels as though she is deserving of love without actually putting work into herself. I would not say she grew at all emotionally throughout the entire novel.
In addition, Ryan Darling, the so called competition for the main guy, Trevor, is terrible! Right off the bat, he makes for a poor attempt at an alternative, with his extremely lackluster personality and dated attitude towards women, not to mention how he is viewed by literally everyone else around him. The fact that Chastity even enters into a relationship with him solely based on his looks and *SPOILER ALERT* even accepts his marriage proposal with absolutely no connection to go off of, further exemplifies how weak of a character Chastity is and how hard it is for a reader to sympathize with her.
The only redeeming quality with the book comes from the B-plot with Chastity's parents, with is much closer to the modern day works I am used to seeing from the author. It is both unique, surprising, and heartwarming, and I wished the whole novel focused on it. I also loved all of Chastity's brothers, they were really fun characters to read about.
There was another minor plot having to do with Chastity's coworker which was laughable at best and could've been eliminated entirely. Overall, there were way too many flaws in this novel to put it in even remotely the same realm as her more recent novels. It honestly didn't read like a Kristan Higgins book at all which was quite disappointing.
On top of the reason above, Chastity was extremely immature. I am already someone who dislikes lack of communication in a novel used a major plot progressor and she is guilty of this with not one but two men! Multiple times she acts like a child when it comes to romantic relationships and feels as though she is deserving of love without actually putting work into herself. I would not say she grew at all emotionally throughout the entire novel.
In addition, Ryan Darling, the so called competition for the main guy, Trevor, is terrible! Right off the bat, he makes for a poor attempt at an alternative, with his extremely lackluster personality and dated attitude towards women, not to mention how he is viewed by literally everyone else around him. The fact that Chastity even enters into a relationship with him solely based on his looks and *SPOILER ALERT* even accepts his marriage proposal with absolutely no connection to go off of, further exemplifies how weak of a character Chastity is and how hard it is for a reader to sympathize with her.
The only redeeming quality with the book comes from the B-plot with Chastity's parents, with is much closer to the modern day works I am used to seeing from the author. It is both unique, surprising, and heartwarming, and I wished the whole novel focused on it. I also loved all of Chastity's brothers, they were really fun characters to read about.
There was another minor plot having to do with Chastity's coworker which was laughable at best and could've been eliminated entirely. Overall, there were way too many flaws in this novel to put it in even remotely the same realm as her more recent novels. It honestly didn't read like a Kristan Higgins book at all which was quite disappointing.