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A review by fictionesque
The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary
3.0
Hmmmmmmm. I loved The Road Trip but something about The Flatshare just felt less enjoyable. I think the issues I was having were primarily its length and not liking the writing style for Leon's chapters, but I also really can't ignore all the weird misogyny in this?
There are some moments of anti-feminism in this, and most of it is just present in off-handed statements, but the parts where the protagonist, whom I'm supposed to be rooting for, says you can't have a boyfriend/fuck/be attractive if you don't shave your entire body, and where she casually comments about her friend spending hours contouring herself an entirely new face before going to an event...those parts really took me out of the story and made it hard to root for the supposedly 'quirky' protagonist. It just made her seem less like an authentic weird girl and more like a pickme who pretends she's not every controlling guy's fantasy even though her entire life is constructed around being just that. However I guess you COULD read it as the protagonist being critical of those things, but most people will probably default to being like 'yeah girl it be like that.'
Also I feel like Tiffy's relationship with Leon is still toxic in ways that resemble her relationship with Justin? Maybe I'm just projecting, but it seems like Tiffy bends over backwards for Leon waaaaayyy more than he does for her, which adds to her subservient vibes.
Idk. Rating subject to change, I'm just so picky with romance and it's still a new genre for me. Idk if I'm just delusional to expect romance to not be ridiculously antifeminist, especially given that you can get your book cancelled these days for being an open feminist, unless you're miss Rowling herself. Anyway if anyone has recs for romances about weird women who are kind of independent and don't shave their legs like. Actually genuinely HMU.
The book is enjoyable enough and I liked it, I just didn't love it. Also I think it's a little too long.
There are some moments of anti-feminism in this, and most of it is just present in off-handed statements, but the parts where the protagonist, whom I'm supposed to be rooting for, says you can't have a boyfriend/fuck/be attractive if you don't shave your entire body, and where she casually comments about her friend spending hours contouring herself an entirely new face before going to an event...those parts really took me out of the story and made it hard to root for the supposedly 'quirky' protagonist. It just made her seem less like an authentic weird girl and more like a pickme who pretends she's not every controlling guy's fantasy even though her entire life is constructed around being just that. However I guess you COULD read it as the protagonist being critical of those things, but most people will probably default to being like 'yeah girl it be like that.'
Also I feel like Tiffy's relationship with Leon is still toxic in ways that resemble her relationship with Justin? Maybe I'm just projecting, but it seems like Tiffy bends over backwards for Leon waaaaayyy more than he does for her, which adds to her subservient vibes.
Idk. Rating subject to change, I'm just so picky with romance and it's still a new genre for me. Idk if I'm just delusional to expect romance to not be ridiculously antifeminist, especially given that you can get your book cancelled these days for being an open feminist, unless you're miss Rowling herself. Anyway if anyone has recs for romances about weird women who are kind of independent and don't shave their legs like. Actually genuinely HMU.
The book is enjoyable enough and I liked it, I just didn't love it. Also I think it's a little too long.