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A review by wolfiereads
Simmer Down by Sarah Echavarre Smith
3.0
If you're in the mood for a super light, fun and cheesy contemporary romance, this book is for you. It's a fast paced, 2-3 sitting read. What's inside: insight into the food truck scene, mouth watering descriptions of Filipino cuisine, beautiful Maui, an enemies - to friends - to lovers romance between an independent, assertive Filipina and a perpetually grumpy (but sweet) Englishman, and a cute cat named Lemon.
Interested? Right on, enjoy! Keep scrolling by if you don't wanna taste my salt.
Y'all. I tried and I really wanted to like it, but I couldn't do it.
What I did love about this: the tone. Smith is great at setting the scene and establishing a warm, comforting environment, which is what I loved about her previous book, Faker. (Which I feel equally hmmm about and can go off on, but I digress.) It was practically a getaway to Maui from the first page and felt like a cozy read.
What I didn't love? *takes off glasses and sighs* Everything after the 10% mark.
I'll keep it brief. I prefer realistic romances though I don't mind surrealism or cheesiness, but this had me scratching my head and literally saying "what the fuck man" multiple times. It started off reasonable then revved its engine and veered off the cliff so fast it took me out of the reading experience.
A lot of this didn't feel like genuine, organic responses or decisions from the characters, just plot points awkwardly orchestrated by the author to seem edgy or unpredictable.
This also could've benefitted from a lot of editing. A LOT. Smith writes chunks of repetitive sentences when one sentence, or even just context clues, would do. It was frustrating to read the same sentence but slightly different repeated a few times, echoed in dialogue then again in Nikki's inner monologue. I gave up after awhile and just skimmed the rest of the book.
I can see how it would appeal to some readers, but not me, sadly. 2.5/3 stars.
Interested? Right on, enjoy! Keep scrolling by if you don't wanna taste my salt.
Y'all. I tried and I really wanted to like it, but I couldn't do it.
What I did love about this: the tone. Smith is great at setting the scene and establishing a warm, comforting environment, which is what I loved about her previous book, Faker. (Which I feel equally hmmm about and can go off on, but I digress.) It was practically a getaway to Maui from the first page and felt like a cozy read.
What I didn't love? *takes off glasses and sighs* Everything after the 10% mark.
I'll keep it brief. I prefer realistic romances though I don't mind surrealism or cheesiness, but this had me scratching my head and literally saying "what the fuck man" multiple times. It started off reasonable then revved its engine and veered off the cliff so fast it took me out of the reading experience.
A lot of this didn't feel like genuine, organic responses or decisions from the characters, just plot points awkwardly orchestrated by the author to seem edgy or unpredictable.
This also could've benefitted from a lot of editing. A LOT. Smith writes chunks of repetitive sentences when one sentence, or even just context clues, would do. It was frustrating to read the same sentence but slightly different repeated a few times, echoed in dialogue then again in Nikki's inner monologue. I gave up after awhile and just skimmed the rest of the book.
I can see how it would appeal to some readers, but not me, sadly. 2.5/3 stars.