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A review by jessamess
The Bounce Back by Addie Woolridge
1.0
I wanted this book to work so badly. I was excited to read a romance that was centered around POC and written by a black author, and the story just never got there for me. The whole time I was reading, I was waiting for something to happen that would really pull me in and it never did. I ended up skimming most of the book.
This book is not a romance. It is marketed as one, but 100% reads as women’s fiction, which is great, except when you go into it expecting a romance.
I could not stand Neale, practically from the start of the book. She is 28 years old, but acts like a child, giving up after one mistake, and being washy with everyone and everything. I understand that it was an intentional choice by the author to aid the storyline, but I was annoyed with her constantly.
Another thing that really bothered me was the fact that I felt like I knew more about the side characters than I did about Neale and Anthony. The main things I knew about Neale were her being a “failed” artist and she was a now self-proclaimed “secular nun”. As for Anthony, I knew he drew the greeting cards and did parkour. The main characters had no depth, and their relationship was merely surface level.
I also felt like I had no concept of how much time had passed. It felt like we were missing so many things that led up to their relationship, and it went from coworkers who just met to friends that have crushes on each other.
I wanted to love this, or even just enjoy it, but nothing about this book worked for me.
This book is not a romance. It is marketed as one, but 100% reads as women’s fiction, which is great, except when you go into it expecting a romance.
I could not stand Neale, practically from the start of the book. She is 28 years old, but acts like a child, giving up after one mistake, and being washy with everyone and everything. I understand that it was an intentional choice by the author to aid the storyline, but I was annoyed with her constantly.
Another thing that really bothered me was the fact that I felt like I knew more about the side characters than I did about Neale and Anthony. The main things I knew about Neale were her being a “failed” artist and she was a now self-proclaimed “secular nun”. As for Anthony, I knew he drew the greeting cards and did parkour. The main characters had no depth, and their relationship was merely surface level.
I also felt like I had no concept of how much time had passed. It felt like we were missing so many things that led up to their relationship, and it went from coworkers who just met to friends that have crushes on each other.
I wanted to love this, or even just enjoy it, but nothing about this book worked for me.