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A review by piperclover
Not Catching Love by Saxon James
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I'm very torn on this. I was so excited and I do genuinely love Xander and the platonic relationship with Molly and Seven. Something about the 3 of them together just makes me feel so good and I love every scene of them.
Xander's anxiety, catastrophizing, emotional dysregulation, and OCD is so realistic that I cried multiple times and honestly I felt a little attacked by the portrayal. His extreme self-doubt and sincerely believing that everyone is going to get tired of him hits way too close to home.
I do feel like the relationship itself wasn't well paced or well structured. We see the switch from Derek being a medical provider who is enabling Xanders manipulative behaviors and refusal to get help and we see how difficult that is for both of them as well as for Molly and Seven but we don't really see building of the relationship. There's large time gaps where Derek is out of the country and while we see some text messages, it doesn't do enough for me to build the relationship out and make me feel like the relationship is genuine, heartfelt, and long lasting.
The first third of the book is great and the last 25 pages or so are great but they feel like 2 distinctly different books because the middle doesn't bridge them very well for me.
Xander's anxiety, catastrophizing, emotional dysregulation, and OCD is so realistic that I cried multiple times and honestly I felt a little attacked by the portrayal. His extreme self-doubt and sincerely believing that everyone is going to get tired of him hits way too close to home.
I do feel like the relationship itself wasn't well paced or well structured. We see the switch from Derek being a medical provider who is enabling Xanders manipulative behaviors and refusal to get help and we see how difficult that is for both of them as well as for Molly and Seven but we don't really see building of the relationship. There's large time gaps where Derek is out of the country and while we see some text messages, it doesn't do enough for me to build the relationship out and make me feel like the relationship is genuine, heartfelt, and long lasting.
The first third of the book is great and the last 25 pages or so are great but they feel like 2 distinctly different books because the middle doesn't bridge them very well for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness
Child neglect, deep abandonment fear