Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by crispycritter
The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson
- Loveable characters? No
3.25
This book is incredibly difficult for me to rate. On the one hand, it was a very quick read and has some real good spice.
On the other hand, the whole miscommunication trope / catfishing situation was such a head scratcher. Why would you choose this storyline? Why would it go on for nearly 80% of the book, even after Daphne and Chrisare sleeping together ?
I genuinely like “unlikable” women and difficult FMCs but I just did not understand Daphne as a reader. There were so many illogical situations she tried to explain away that I just did not get. She was like a slightly more unlikable version of Phoebe from LITTOSK. Chris on the other hand was a beautiful character, which might be why this didn’t really work for me. Sam in LITTOSK was unseasoned boiled potatoes. Chris felt so much more developed and likable I dunno - I felt like he deserved better than Thompson’s usual awkward and mean FMCs? It’s not a great feeling when you’re actively rooting against the characters getting together. I felt like Chris deserved better.
I’ve also realized I have a tough time with divorced characters, or that they need to be handled with extra care. Maybe I’m too old and cynical, but if you have a character who is divorced and you’re not super clear on why the relationship didn’t work out, I’m gonna assume 1. It was at least partly your fault and 2. You’re destined to repeat this behavior absent affirmative evidence suggesting you’ve worked on yourself. Daphne just put her brother’s best friend on a pedestal. Marriage over. 😭😭😭 Okayyyy??? And we see her throughout the book be TERRIBLE at being honest and forthcoming with her feelings with Chris??? Ok girl. Give us nothing.
It’s also tough when there are so many OUTSTANDING baseball romances out there. I couldn’t help but compare this to books like The Prospects and We Could Be So Lucky. There was something a bit hollow about this book. It’s like Thompson enjoys going to games for the social aspect but I didn’t feel the deep love for the game like I do in, well, pretty much every written work about baseball. We get one Yogi Berra quote and zero examples for baseball being a metaphor for life.
On the other hand, the whole miscommunication trope / catfishing situation was such a head scratcher. Why would you choose this storyline? Why would it go on for nearly 80% of the book, even after Daphne and Chris
I genuinely like “unlikable” women and difficult FMCs but I just did not understand Daphne as a reader. There were so many illogical situations she tried to explain away that I just did not get. She was like a slightly more unlikable version of Phoebe from LITTOSK. Chris on the other hand was a beautiful character, which might be why this didn’t really work for me. Sam in LITTOSK was unseasoned boiled potatoes. Chris felt so much more developed and likable I dunno - I felt like he deserved better than Thompson’s usual awkward and mean FMCs? It’s not a great feeling when you’re actively rooting against the characters getting together. I felt like Chris deserved better.
I’ve also realized I have a tough time with divorced characters, or that they need to be handled with extra care. Maybe I’m too old and cynical, but if you have a character who is divorced and you’re not super clear on why the relationship didn’t work out, I’m gonna assume 1. It was at least partly your fault and 2. You’re destined to repeat this behavior absent affirmative evidence suggesting you’ve worked on yourself. Daphne just put her brother’s best friend on a pedestal. Marriage over. 😭😭😭 Okayyyy??? And we see her throughout the book be TERRIBLE at being honest and forthcoming with her feelings with Chris??? Ok girl. Give us nothing.
It’s also tough when there are so many OUTSTANDING baseball romances out there. I couldn’t help but compare this to books like The Prospects and We Could Be So Lucky. There was something a bit hollow about this book. It’s like Thompson enjoys going to games for the social aspect but I didn’t feel the deep love for the game like I do in, well, pretty much every written work about baseball. We get one Yogi Berra quote and zero examples for baseball being a metaphor for life.