Take a photo of a barcode or cover
laelyn 's review for:
When London Snow Falls
by Hayden Stone
Hayden Stone is a new author to me and I also didn't read the first book in this series, so I went into this rather blind. Good things first: As is usual with most romance series, this book can absolutely be read on its own, it doesn't require you to know what happened in the first one - I might have missed some little extras for the fans, and I think Charlie, our protagonist, does meet the first book's protagonist at one point (at least the name is the same based on the first one's blurb, so I guessed as much), but that's about it.
"When London Snow Falls" is your rather typical romcom, but there's nothing that makes it shine. There are cute moments, but because the characters are written a little inconsistently and Charlie is just a combination of way too many issues without focussing on any of them (former alcoholic and drug abuser, though now he can apparently both drink alcohol and take certain drugs in moderation without issues which I found a little weird; anxiety disorder that reads like someone not suffering from anxiety wrote a book about someone with anxiety; self-medication due to that anxiety disorder; a self-imposed dating ban that doesn't really mean anything; a two-year old child that was conceived in a drunken bender; comically loathsome parents that despise him for his problems in the past and his sexuality). It's way too much and thus feels shallow. Charlie's love interest, Ben, often feels like barely a character - he's basically perfect.
The dialogues are supposed to be witty, but often come off as cringey instead, and some plotlines are so forced into the story for added drama that I wanted to skip entire chapters (the jealousy plot during the last few chapters, why this? why?). The plot itself seems both rushed and drawn out at the same time, with instalove which I simply don't enjoy in 95% of books that have this trope.
All in all this is an okay romance with some cute scenes, but neither the writing nor the plot or characters really hit home.
Many thanks to Entangled Publishing and Netgalley for the arc!
"When London Snow Falls" is your rather typical romcom, but there's nothing that makes it shine. There are cute moments, but because the characters are written a little inconsistently and Charlie is just a combination of way too many issues without focussing on any of them (former alcoholic and drug abuser, though now he can apparently both drink alcohol and take certain drugs in moderation without issues which I found a little weird; anxiety disorder that reads like someone not suffering from anxiety wrote a book about someone with anxiety; self-medication due to that anxiety disorder; a self-imposed dating ban that doesn't really mean anything; a two-year old child that was conceived in a drunken bender; comically loathsome parents that despise him for his problems in the past and his sexuality). It's way too much and thus feels shallow. Charlie's love interest, Ben, often feels like barely a character - he's basically perfect.
The dialogues are supposed to be witty, but often come off as cringey instead, and some plotlines are so forced into the story for added drama that I wanted to skip entire chapters (the jealousy plot during the last few chapters, why this? why?). The plot itself seems both rushed and drawn out at the same time, with instalove which I simply don't enjoy in 95% of books that have this trope.
All in all this is an okay romance with some cute scenes, but neither the writing nor the plot or characters really hit home.
Many thanks to Entangled Publishing and Netgalley for the arc!