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A review by basha
From the Jump by Lacie Waldon
1.0
A friends to lovers romance about a woman who has been attracted to one of her oldest friends for a decade, but can’t penetrate his bizarrely aloof exterior. I actually find the premise of being incredibly attracted to one of your best friends kind of weird, if I were extremely attracted to one of my best friends for 10 years, it would be a whole thing I was thinking about and trying to manage, not just a fact of my relationship with them.
While the protagonist’s backstory makes sense - she grew up in poverty with housing instability and now as an adult is obsessed with both creating as much stability for herself as possible, and with keeping up appearances to everyone in her life - the author basically used it to turn her into a caricature. She doesn’t bond with work friends, she reads sexist self help books and recommends them to colleagues, shes a fatphobic dieter who has not eaten pizza in a decade she doesn’t seem to bring anything but almond-mom vibes to her otherwise pretty chill friend group. The precipitating event for her fall from perfectionism doesn’t make a ton of sense, I just don’t love unrealistic scenes or an uptight person suddenly takes a stand in front of a bunch of friends family members are colleagues, too unrealistic.
I also think race is handled badly in the most subtle ways in this romance - the lead character exotifies her black best friend, and calls her lodging and South Africa primitive.
The most glaring error in this book, though, is the friend dynamics. First, none of these people seem to have developed authentic intimacy, it’s particularly striking in the female friendships. But, these men are written like horny idiots. Excited to flirt with their female best friends of 10 years? it’s like the author has never met an adult man and was writing about horny childish 15 year old boys.
and don’t get me started on the pacing, this book takes place in so many different settings, and it’s really fragmented. There’s very little sexual tension or momentum of plot to pull you through the disjointed settings and stages of the plot. Overall, only complaints. Which is disappointing because I thought the ensemble cast would be fun.
While the protagonist’s backstory makes sense - she grew up in poverty with housing instability and now as an adult is obsessed with both creating as much stability for herself as possible, and with keeping up appearances to everyone in her life - the author basically used it to turn her into a caricature. She doesn’t bond with work friends, she reads sexist self help books and recommends them to colleagues, shes a fatphobic dieter who has not eaten pizza in a decade she doesn’t seem to bring anything but almond-mom vibes to her otherwise pretty chill friend group. The precipitating event for her fall from perfectionism doesn’t make a ton of sense, I just don’t love unrealistic scenes or an uptight person suddenly takes a stand in front of a bunch of friends family members are colleagues, too unrealistic.
I also think race is handled badly in the most subtle ways in this romance - the lead character exotifies her black best friend, and calls her lodging and South Africa primitive.
The most glaring error in this book, though, is the friend dynamics. First, none of these people seem to have developed authentic intimacy, it’s particularly striking in the female friendships. But, these men are written like horny idiots. Excited to flirt with their female best friends of 10 years? it’s like the author has never met an adult man and was writing about horny childish 15 year old boys.
and don’t get me started on the pacing, this book takes place in so many different settings, and it’s really fragmented. There’s very little sexual tension or momentum of plot to pull you through the disjointed settings and stages of the plot. Overall, only complaints. Which is disappointing because I thought the ensemble cast would be fun.