A review by jupiterlee
Take A Chance On Me by Beth Moran

sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

 
I love a good cheesy romance and my guilty pleasure is fake-relationships, and this book was ticking those boxes, however, it unfortunately did not leave me feeling as uplifted as I thought. 

My main issue with it is that I am not a fan of love triangles that play a meddling part in the story, especially when the triangle adds in more people. 
Now I know that it is hinted in the blub, but you cannot go reading a chapter of Cooper without him saying something about his infatuation or love for Bridget and it was getting to a point I was just getting annoyed. 
I really was routing for the idea of him and Emma as I feel that they could have made a good little couple considering everything he was doing for her and how cute they were being together but in the end it went the direction that became very obvious within a few chapters, we were not going to get a happy ending for the married couple. 
Additionally, Emma becoming infatuated with Ben just added a layer of annoyance to it, and I found myself just wanting for them to break up since it felt that neither of them were really into the marriage and I felt myself saying "stop putting yourselves through this!", but they were giving each other very mix messages and even as a reader I was starting to wonder who actually truly liked each other.

I loved the sister bond and the fact that the family is so close, however I felt that the sisters really did know about Cooper loving Bridget and they did not tell Emma and acted like the did not know: not sure if im making this up but I believe at a point it was actually spoken about how he was infatuated with Bridget when he was younger. I also felt that, sisters or not, what happened should not have just been brushed over as it was. I felt like in the end Emma was like "cool yeah no problem you like each other just go for it" all due to her feeling guilty that she really liked Ben and not Cooper but then she forgoes dating him due to trying to find herself...and I found myself wondering what the whole point was.

I really do wish I was able to love it more as the premises of it was interesting but in the end I just started to not like the characters and that ruined it for me: Cooper should never have done what he done if he was that in love with Bridget, Emma forgave her sister way to easily in my opinion, Bridget should have never allowed the marriage but most importantly she should have been more mature and either owned up to her sisters or walked away, Ben should not have been as big a flirt to his friends wife... I am clearly not as decent as a person as these characters cause I would have not been happy with any of them.