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A review by littlebookterror
The Awkward Truth by Lee Winter
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Felicity was a great character and I thoroughly enjoyed her point of view. From her job aspirations to her struggles to understand her family to the new path she was going down. I also enjoyed the charity plot and the uncovering of what really was causing all the problems.
What I was kind of missing though was the romance? Obviously, there is one, and the chemistry with Cooper is certainly there - but the timeline is so short and most of the story is focused on other things than actually developing their romantic relationship. I also found their reason for cutting their relationship too dramatic for the short time they knew each other. Career goals are not incompatible with understanding different needs? Yes, I think it's nice that Felicity's reconnection to her family was part of her personal development but that making her out to be terrible because of it? Did not work for me. (Not to mention the arophobic implication that only "true love" can satisfy unlike a job you love, nice coworkers, steady money and filling your days with things you enjoy.)
I recently listened to a podcast where two romance reviewers also talked about what it means for a book to be a category romance - you usually only hear "it needs to have and HEA" but is that really all? And it made me realize that neither Felicity's internal plot nor the book's external plot about the charity are at all contingent on Cooper's presence. She works there but that's it. And I think that's what makes this a successful book but and unsuccessful romance for me.
What I was kind of missing though was the romance? Obviously, there is one, and the chemistry with Cooper is certainly there - but the timeline is so short and most of the story is focused on other things than actually developing their romantic relationship. I also found their reason for cutting their relationship too dramatic for the short time they knew each other. Career goals are not incompatible with understanding different needs? Yes, I think it's nice that Felicity's reconnection to her family was part of her personal development but that making her out to be terrible because of it? Did not work for me. (Not to mention the arophobic implication that only "true love" can satisfy unlike a job you love, nice coworkers, steady money and filling your days with things you enjoy.)
I recently listened to a podcast where two romance reviewers also talked about what it means for a book to be a category romance - you usually only hear "it needs to have and HEA" but is that really all? And it made me realize that neither Felicity's internal plot nor the book's external plot about the charity are at all contingent on Cooper's presence. She works there but that's it. And I think that's what makes this a successful book but and unsuccessful romance for me.