A review by lezreadalot
Love by Molly McAdams

3.0

I leaned into her hand for a second, giving in just a fraction, and felt my entire being respond to that submission.There's a great romance trammelled up somewhere in this mess but it's unfortunately bogged down by a lot of annoying, unnecessary, and clumsily written details/plots. It's a toaster oven romance between Kinsley, who's just moved to LA to be a nurse, and Ariana, one of her new roommates who intrigues her and makes her question herself. I love gay-awakening/toaster oven stories, and I thought their romance was really sweet, intense, and electric where it needed to be.

But so many things about this felt so childish, and they put me right off. The characters are in their mid-20s, but everyone in this book reads like they just left high school, 19 at the most. I'm not saying that you can't be immature at 26, but so many of the conflicts in this book revolved around issues that... I don't know, it didn't seem credible. And it simply wasn't enjoyable to read. Like, all the best friend drama with Stevie. Stevie is so clearly being unfair to Kinsley, and just generally mean to everyone around her (no matter that she says she's never done anything, or she's just being real, she clearly knows she's out of line). The narrative isn't on her side, and we do realise that she's acting out because of her own problems, but it just didn't feel credible that a grown woman would be throwing tantrums and trying to control and monopolise the people around her like this? So while at first I was frustrated and annoyed by Stevie, that frustration and annoyance soon turned on the writing itself. Stevie COULD have been a complicated character who lashes out and clings to her best friend because of her abandonment issues. But instead, she just read like an empty, walking caricature. I felt a similar way about Kinsley's problems with her ex-boyfriend, her friends, her family, and everyone in her home town. Everyone was so over-the-top mean, judge-y, and condescending towards her, they stopped feeling like characters, and felt more like devices through which the author needed to deliver her Kinsley whump. Like, the moment where Delia and co. got sooooo annoyed at Kinsley for trying to get them food (while they were staying at HER house) because apparently that's a sign of Kinsley being controlling and making everything about her... what? Would anyone really think that? Really react like that? What kind of mental gymnastics do you have to do to contort an offer to provide food/plan some stuff into 'she's making everything about herself!' So again, they didn't feel like real people. And in any scenario where I COULD see them as real people, they felt very very young. Like petty teenagers in adult suits.

The writing also left something to be desired. It was fine overall, but the author had this habit of writing in incomplete sentences and phrases, and it drove me up a wall. Lots of gerunds in places where you could have really used the past tense verb. I guess it's maybe a stylistic thing, but it didn't actually add anything to the writing? Imo, at least. It just made it seem like the editor was asleep at the desk. 

So I had a lot of gripes, but I'm still coming out of this with mostly good feelings because I really really liked the couple. Ariana was soooo swoony, so patient and kind with Kinsley, pressing her only when Kinsley wanted, or when she needed it. I really liked the way Kinsley's gradual realisation about her sexuality was written, all of her early angst as she tries to figure out why she's reacting this way to Ariana. I loved when they got protective of each other, when they pushed each other's buttons in ways that were actually conducive to growth. I wish we'd gotten to see more of their time alone, away from the roommates and the friend group, maybe a few dates or something. That intense connection in the beginning maybe moved a little fast, and I wish we'd had more scenes of them together to really make it believable.

Listened to the audiobook as read by Sophie Daniels and Lauren Sweet, two narrators whom I already love, and they definitely made this a worthwhile listen. Especially with the writing, I don't know if I'd have finished this without the audiobook. They made the chemistry palpable, and the banter really fun. I doubt I'll read from this author again (seems like she writes mostly m/f, and and I don't think I could handle all these issues PLUS heterosexuality) but I'm still mostly glad I took a chance on this. I loved the main couple, even though I had issues with a lot of other stuff.