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nickcarravay 's review for:
Heartbreak for Hire
by Sonia Hartl
Firstly, CW: gaslighting, neglectful parent, abusive relationship, abuse of power, hate of a specific group of people
I have not been this angry with a book in a long time. It has made me so mad that articulating my thoughts about it is really hard.
Brinkley and Markus are thrown together into an unusual work situation, where they humiliate “mean guys” after Mark was one of Brinkley’s marks. As far as awkward meet-cutes go, this one is the strangest. She thinks he’s the scum of the earth, he thinks her name is Anna. But they overcome their “differences” and finger-blast like bunnies because he is so hot.
There are so many “bad guys” in this book. Some of them are intentional, but others are insidious mentions that are hard to discern as the feeling of the character or the author herself. There is toxicity in Brinkley’s previous romantic relationship. Her absolute lack of communication and abuse cycle with her mother and her Bond-villain-level bad-bitch-boss are just the tips of the turd mountain that is the backdrop of this romantic comedy? (Is that even possible?)
There is judgment and shame in pursuing the arts, in choosing a career that is not academically driven, there is also a dumpster fire’s worth of hate on Academia (academics are not without faults, but maybe not so blanketly bad?), there is gaslighting from everyone!
I had hoped to escape into a fun world and instead ended up screaming in frustration at the harm I think this book can cause if someone is not careful in how they read it.
I have not been this angry with a book in a long time. It has made me so mad that articulating my thoughts about it is really hard.
Brinkley and Markus are thrown together into an unusual work situation, where they humiliate “mean guys” after Mark was one of Brinkley’s marks. As far as awkward meet-cutes go, this one is the strangest. She thinks he’s the scum of the earth, he thinks her name is Anna. But they overcome their “differences” and finger-blast like bunnies because he is so hot.
There are so many “bad guys” in this book. Some of them are intentional, but others are insidious mentions that are hard to discern as the feeling of the character or the author herself. There is toxicity in Brinkley’s previous romantic relationship. Her absolute lack of communication and abuse cycle with her mother and her Bond-villain-level bad-bitch-boss are just the tips of the turd mountain that is the backdrop of this romantic comedy? (Is that even possible?)
There is judgment and shame in pursuing the arts, in choosing a career that is not academically driven, there is also a dumpster fire’s worth of hate on Academia (academics are not without faults, but maybe not so blanketly bad?), there is gaslighting from everyone!
I had hoped to escape into a fun world and instead ended up screaming in frustration at the harm I think this book can cause if someone is not careful in how they read it.