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akarently 's review for:
Till Summer Do Us Part
by Meghan Quinn
This book had potential and some genuinely funny moments (plus, I was there for the solid premise of a fake-husband at a relationship retreat/adult summer camp), but it veered into cringe and repetitiveness that wore me down. The excessive smut, immature bickering, and increasingly unrealistic scenarios kept it from crossing over into anything more than a silly, smutty, romcom. What you see is what you get: an over-the-top, absurd romcom fever dream with lots of spicy scenes.
Recap: Scottie Price (a grumpy trope incarnate) starts a new job as a copy editor on a male-heavy team (focused on golf?) of happily married “Brads and Chads.” To impress her boss Ellison (one of the only other females), she lies about having a husband (?? lol ok), but when a coworker calls her bluff, she ends up roped into seeing her boss’s husband (a marriage counselor, with btw no real credentials, again "lol ok"). To keep up the lie, Scottie begs her BFF bartender-of-Stockings Mika, to be her "fake husband" for a counseling session. Mika (who btw, was hoping to set up Scottie and Wilder soon ANYWAY) enlists his improv-obsessed, multiply-pierced (every chapter, we hear he's PIERCED! we get it!) millionaire (sold an app about sodas) brother Wilder to pretend to be her husband.
What follows is an eight-day marriage retreat with her whole team (where are all these people getting $15,000 for a WEEK at a camp, where your luggage is checked and SNACKS and CONDOMS removed). And you can't even "pick" your cabin! And this relationship/sex-forward married-couples-only summer camp is complete with awkward intimacy exercises, candlelit bonding, overpriced minibar of sex toys, and a suspicious "Sex Palace" cabin.
Scottie's female bestie is Denise, who apparently dates Wilder's best friend, so that's a little all-to-convenient too. Meanwhile, Matt, Scottie's actual ex-husband SUCKED. Like, she should def have been in therapy to process all that trauma, JFC. She essentially role plays/fake fights her frustrations into a cathartic release with Wilder.
Throughout it all, a lot of time the dialogue was...rough. Cringe, maybe? As in, it felt unrealistic, like scenes from an adult film trying too hard to be funny.
Aside from the forced proximity, Wilder LISTENS and WORSHIPS Scottie, but like the connection is omg-so-hot and lust and tits-and-ass-and-abs-and-pierced-penis. Their relationship is kind of immature. And the lip ring and beanies pusing the emo style is weird and not sure it fully lines up with everything? IDK, and yes he is supportive of scottie and good for her and she deserves that but everything was over the top almost to the point of exhaustion.
And on the note of repetition: THEIR AGE GAP CANNOT POSSIBLY BE A BIG DEAL??? So many effing times we hear that Wilder is "so mature for his age." Lol ok??? She's 29; he's 27! That's completely normal, and not to mention offset by the fact of Wilder taking an active role in his family, his dad's illness and dying when he and his brother were in HS/college, PLUS creating and selling an app for a ton of $$. Weirdly insecure and unnecessary. Get over it.
So: Scottie, grumpy trope with low self-esteem from her failed first marriage to a douche canoe. Wilder, a PIERCED guy who LISTENS and has BANK. Forced proximity in couples camp with cell phones confiscated. Scottie's bucket list that Wilder helps her complete. Smut level cranked up to 11. Resolution/happily ever after comes with Scottie coming clean to Chad (who does an about-face and become a nice guy who Scottie now regularly takes walks and lunches with... um, lol ok) and then Sanders/Ellison about the fake marriage plot. And I'm all for scottie's emotional growth and everything and happily ever after, it just felt so rushed and forced.
To sum it up: lol ok.
Recap: Scottie Price (a grumpy trope incarnate) starts a new job as a copy editor on a male-heavy team (focused on golf?) of happily married “Brads and Chads.” To impress her boss Ellison (one of the only other females), she lies about having a husband (?? lol ok), but when a coworker calls her bluff, she ends up roped into seeing her boss’s husband (a marriage counselor, with btw no real credentials, again "lol ok"). To keep up the lie, Scottie begs her BFF bartender-of-Stockings Mika, to be her "fake husband" for a counseling session. Mika (who btw, was hoping to set up Scottie and Wilder soon ANYWAY) enlists his improv-obsessed, multiply-pierced (every chapter, we hear he's PIERCED! we get it!) millionaire (sold an app about sodas) brother Wilder to pretend to be her husband.
What follows is an eight-day marriage retreat with her whole team (where are all these people getting $15,000 for a WEEK at a camp, where your luggage is checked and SNACKS and CONDOMS removed). And you can't even "pick" your cabin! And this relationship/sex-forward married-couples-only summer camp is complete with awkward intimacy exercises, candlelit bonding, overpriced minibar of sex toys, and a suspicious "Sex Palace" cabin.
Scottie's female bestie is Denise, who apparently dates Wilder's best friend, so that's a little all-to-convenient too. Meanwhile, Matt, Scottie's actual ex-husband SUCKED. Like, she should def have been in therapy to process all that trauma, JFC. She essentially role plays/fake fights her frustrations into a cathartic release with Wilder.
Throughout it all, a lot of time the dialogue was...rough. Cringe, maybe? As in, it felt unrealistic, like scenes from an adult film trying too hard to be funny.
Aside from the forced proximity, Wilder LISTENS and WORSHIPS Scottie, but like the connection is omg-so-hot and lust and tits-and-ass-and-abs-and-pierced-penis. Their relationship is kind of immature. And the lip ring and beanies pusing the emo style is weird and not sure it fully lines up with everything? IDK, and yes he is supportive of scottie and good for her and she deserves that but everything was over the top almost to the point of exhaustion.
And on the note of repetition: THEIR AGE GAP CANNOT POSSIBLY BE A BIG DEAL??? So many effing times we hear that Wilder is "so mature for his age." Lol ok??? She's 29; he's 27! That's completely normal, and not to mention offset by the fact of Wilder taking an active role in his family, his dad's illness and dying when he and his brother were in HS/college, PLUS creating and selling an app for a ton of $$. Weirdly insecure and unnecessary. Get over it.
So: Scottie, grumpy trope with low self-esteem from her failed first marriage to a douche canoe. Wilder, a PIERCED guy who LISTENS and has BANK. Forced proximity in couples camp with cell phones confiscated. Scottie's bucket list that Wilder helps her complete. Smut level cranked up to 11. Resolution/happily ever after comes with Scottie coming clean to Chad (who does an about-face and become a nice guy who Scottie now regularly takes walks and lunches with... um, lol ok) and then Sanders/Ellison about the fake marriage plot. And I'm all for scottie's emotional growth and everything and happily ever after, it just felt so rushed and forced.
To sum it up: lol ok.