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mindsplinters 's review for:
How to Get a Life in Ten Dates
by Jenny L. Howe
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for an Advanced Reader Copy - pub date 12/10/2024. Haleigh is just 25 but, between her overachieving sister and her overly concerned mom and grandfather, she feels like she has already failed at life. She's a mess, she's underemployed, she doesn't have her own apartment, and (worse yet) she is caught in the chronic hell of endless first dates while harboring a passion for her best friend. When her sister announces her engagement party and Haleigh knows she is expected to bring a Plus One, she proposes a new scheme - 10 dates, chosen by her loved ones, given a fair shot by her, and they will all back off for six months if none of the dates work. The concept is pretty adorable and fun. The book also has plenty of rep for plus-size, mental health issues, and LGBTQ+. The writing is pretty good, too, and the author is clearly creative as all heck. The Bad Dates are the stuff of hilarious legend. Emotional support cockatoo? Yes, please. In theory, this should have ticked all of the boxes for me.
Unfortunately, while I enjoyed the bad dates and the writing, too many of the characters were either flat-but-inoffensive or actively-unlikeable. Haleigh, in particular, quickly annoyed me. For all of the therapy that she had supposedly been through, she was incredibly unprepared to interact with other humans. All excuses, no action, plenty of complaints. For someone so wary of being judged, Haleigh makes judging and assuming a way of life. The first date you see her on, even before the plot really starts, shows her giving up on a date within approximately 10 minutes because the other woman wasn't talking her ear off. So, yeah, not a great first impression for me, the reader.
When she calls her BFF to "rescue" her, we get to meet this paragon that she is hopelessly in love with but they can never be because of REASONS. (The reason comes as no surprise to anyone who has read a lifelong BFF romance). You can immediately see how they work together; codependency is a definite thing here but they also 100% know and accept each other's dysfunctions. Frankly, when it is just the two of them hanging, the book relaxes and is adorable. Jack and Haleigh click in a way that cuts down on her hyper-defensiveness, allows the playful parts of her personality out. With this so obvious and them both being adults, this should have made the book much shorter as they talked and decided to bypass the challenge and just date. The End.
But, nope, because Jack is kinda toxic in ways, too. His cooperation with therapy appears to be as, ahem, effective as Haleigh's. Plus he never says anything to her about being equally in love with her until she actually finds a really nice guy named Brian is very much into her. Only then does he decide to insert himself into the mix. Aggressively, I might add, and recklessly.
But it is a romance novel so we'll get our HEA but I, for one, want #JusticeForBrian. So pretty please, author, can you write another book where he gets his HEA? I like your writing. Just... not Haleigh and Jack.
PSnAlso has it ever occurred to Haleigh to wonder if her buttoned-up sister also suffers from anxiety but copes with it in a wildly different way than she does? Of course not. Because the only mental health problems that exist are hers and Jack's. Sorry, not sorry.
Unfortunately, while I enjoyed the bad dates and the writing, too many of the characters were either flat-but-inoffensive or actively-unlikeable. Haleigh, in particular, quickly annoyed me. For all of the therapy that she had supposedly been through, she was incredibly unprepared to interact with other humans. All excuses, no action, plenty of complaints. For someone so wary of being judged, Haleigh makes judging and assuming a way of life. The first date you see her on, even before the plot really starts, shows her giving up on a date within approximately 10 minutes because the other woman wasn't talking her ear off. So, yeah, not a great first impression for me, the reader.
When she calls her BFF to "rescue" her, we get to meet this paragon that she is hopelessly in love with but they can never be because of REASONS. (The reason comes as no surprise to anyone who has read a lifelong BFF romance). You can immediately see how they work together; codependency is a definite thing here but they also 100% know and accept each other's dysfunctions. Frankly, when it is just the two of them hanging, the book relaxes and is adorable. Jack and Haleigh click in a way that cuts down on her hyper-defensiveness, allows the playful parts of her personality out. With this so obvious and them both being adults, this should have made the book much shorter as they talked and decided to bypass the challenge and just date. The End.
But, nope, because Jack is kinda toxic in ways, too. His cooperation with therapy appears to be as, ahem, effective as Haleigh's. Plus he never says anything to her about being equally in love with her until she actually finds a really nice guy named Brian is very much into her. Only then does he decide to insert himself into the mix. Aggressively, I might add, and recklessly.
But it is a romance novel so we'll get our HEA but I, for one, want #JusticeForBrian. So pretty please, author, can you write another book where he gets his HEA? I like your writing. Just... not Haleigh and Jack.
PSnAlso has it ever occurred to Haleigh to wonder if her buttoned-up sister also suffers from anxiety but copes with it in a wildly different way than she does? Of course not. Because the only mental health problems that exist are hers and Jack's. Sorry, not sorry.