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A review by jenwoodrum
Finding Gene Kelly by Torie Jean
4.0
Torie Jean, you are a wonder.
This book tells the story of Evie O'Shea, a twenty-six year old who lives in Paris, dreaming of opening her own pastry shop and falling in love with a present-day version of Gene Kelly. But many things get in the way - her endometriosis and her mom's passive aggressive negativity have engrained in her beliefs that she is unable to be loved.
When Evie reconnects with her lifelong love and current enemy, Liam Kelly, she initially believes that he is out to get her. But when she needs a date to her brother's wedding to appease her controlling mother, who better than her rival Liam to be her fake date?
What ensues is a beautiful story of Evie learning to break down her walls, accept that she can be loved, and consider what dreams are worth following. It is FILLED with hilarious puns, sweet moments, and fun romance tropes.
I absolutely love when a book addresses unhealthy relationship patterns head-on. Torie Jean did an incredible job of showing these characters growing and challenging the dynamics that were entertaining for us readers, but represented underlying pain and hurt. Go Torie go! Therapy win!!
Another piece of the story was Evie's daily fight with endometriosis. I didn't know much of this chronic condition, but I learned a LOT through this read about how it can affect someone physically and emotionally. It was an important topic to include in a romance novel as endo has a big impact on sexual relationships, which is not talked about often. Torie Jean brought her #ownvoices experiences to the table, and I think anyone who lives with a chronic illness or knows someone who does would enjoy Evie's story. I know I did.
Finally, I thought the book also handled well the difficult dynamics of Evie's relationships with her mom and fake-friends who put her down. Evie's journey of learning to love herself despite the negativity she faced was amazing.
Well done Torie Jean. I hope many people get this book on pub day, Sept 20th!!
I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review!
This book tells the story of Evie O'Shea, a twenty-six year old who lives in Paris, dreaming of opening her own pastry shop and falling in love with a present-day version of Gene Kelly. But many things get in the way - her endometriosis and her mom's passive aggressive negativity have engrained in her beliefs that she is unable to be loved.
When Evie reconnects with her lifelong love and current enemy, Liam Kelly, she initially believes that he is out to get her. But when she needs a date to her brother's wedding to appease her controlling mother, who better than her rival Liam to be her fake date?
What ensues is a beautiful story of Evie learning to break down her walls, accept that she can be loved, and consider what dreams are worth following. It is FILLED with hilarious puns, sweet moments, and fun romance tropes.
I absolutely love when a book addresses unhealthy relationship patterns head-on. Torie Jean did an incredible job of showing these characters growing and challenging the dynamics that were entertaining for us readers, but represented underlying pain and hurt. Go Torie go! Therapy win!!
Another piece of the story was Evie's daily fight with endometriosis. I didn't know much of this chronic condition, but I learned a LOT through this read about how it can affect someone physically and emotionally. It was an important topic to include in a romance novel as endo has a big impact on sexual relationships, which is not talked about often. Torie Jean brought her #ownvoices experiences to the table, and I think anyone who lives with a chronic illness or knows someone who does would enjoy Evie's story. I know I did.
Finally, I thought the book also handled well the difficult dynamics of Evie's relationships with her mom and fake-friends who put her down. Evie's journey of learning to love herself despite the negativity she faced was amazing.
Well done Torie Jean. I hope many people get this book on pub day, Sept 20th!!
I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review!