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A review by ratetheromance
The Spark by Jules Wake
3.0
This book was hard work.
That's the review summary.
Now, to expound.
As an American reading Brit Lit you get to know a lot of the British slang. You acquire awareness of the terms "proper chuffed", "early days", and "CV" instead of resume. But, holy hell, THIS book went balls-to-the-wall with Brit-isms. I have never encountered more British slang, pop culture references, and vocab in a book. It feels excessive, but maybe I'm just unaware that people really talk almost exclusively in Brit-speak...?
This book has a good foundational story. Two strangers meet at an outdoor party and they have an instant spark. Where do they go from there?
But, along the way in this seemingly simple plot line you get parental abandonment, psychiatric break-downs, family secrets, battered women, bitter divorces, online bullying, mean girls, stalking, vandalism, and on and on and on.
I also found myself increasingly pissed off at these characters. If you are a fan of healthy boundaries then this is NOT the book for you. Everyone just repeatedly lets horrid and sometimes dangerous behavior continue in the name of pleasing their family members/not hurting anyone's feelings.
The love story in this book is SO SWEET! And I truly loved that the main characters worked through a gazillion problems to stay together. But this book is very slowly paced and was a bit frustrating for me.
RATING:⭐️⭐️⭐️
STEAM LEVEL: Rated R
TRIGGERS: parental abandonment, psychiatric break-downs, family secrets, battered women, bitter divorces, online bullying, mean girls, stalking, vandalism
Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
That's the review summary.
Now, to expound.
As an American reading Brit Lit you get to know a lot of the British slang. You acquire awareness of the terms "proper chuffed", "early days", and "CV" instead of resume. But, holy hell, THIS book went balls-to-the-wall with Brit-isms. I have never encountered more British slang, pop culture references, and vocab in a book. It feels excessive, but maybe I'm just unaware that people really talk almost exclusively in Brit-speak...?
This book has a good foundational story. Two strangers meet at an outdoor party and they have an instant spark. Where do they go from there?
But, along the way in this seemingly simple plot line you get parental abandonment, psychiatric break-downs, family secrets, battered women, bitter divorces, online bullying, mean girls, stalking, vandalism, and on and on and on.
I also found myself increasingly pissed off at these characters. If you are a fan of healthy boundaries then this is NOT the book for you. Everyone just repeatedly lets horrid and sometimes dangerous behavior continue in the name of pleasing their family members/not hurting anyone's feelings.
The love story in this book is SO SWEET! And I truly loved that the main characters worked through a gazillion problems to stay together. But this book is very slowly paced and was a bit frustrating for me.
RATING:⭐️⭐️⭐️
STEAM LEVEL: Rated R
TRIGGERS: parental abandonment, psychiatric break-downs, family secrets, battered women, bitter divorces, online bullying, mean girls, stalking, vandalism
Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.