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3.5 rounded up.
LIked this way more than I thought I would.
Notable good things:
- Both Bauer and Claire felt like super fleshed out and complicated people, despite the short timeline
- As did several of the side characters. I wouldn't have minded a little MORE there, but I basically always think that
- I liked that Bauer wasn't actually an "asshole-till-you-get-to-know-him" or even really a bad boy trope, but was actually just a guy dealing with his trauma and generally misunderstood. It was a nice change of pace.
- Claire I think was the real star in the book. How she saw and dealt with the people in her life was so interesting to me and I loved her voice and how her mind worked. I like that she wasn't the low hanging fruit trope of "shy but is strong" woman that often comes off as superficial. Instead she was a strong woman who just never had the chance or need to show it before now.
- Loved Claire's complicated relationship with Lia. And everyone else for that matter.
- The scenery. I love being stuck in that little cabin
- The situation. I know it's cheesy and a little eyerolly, but I love the coincidences that brought them together and the winter storm that kept them together longer. It was all done very convincingly
- Similarly, in another context the ending would have felt TOO perfectly resolved, but it felt natural and convincing.
Things I didn't like but wasn't enough for me to not like the book:
- Basically the definition of insta-love. All of their relationship building takes place over like 4-5 days. They managed to make it feel convincing, but that doesn't mean I can't do the math and won't side-eye it.
- I get ~why~ Bauer freaked at the Big Drama, that there was a lot working there under the surface and a lot of things in play. BUT they'd still only been together for like 3 days at that point and the reaction felt a bit uncalled for. Especially giving the actual details it feels uncalled for. But trauma isn't always rational so i'll allow it.
- Why did Claire know like nothing about Finn's family? Her twin sister is his best friend, but somehow she has basically no contact with his family? They made it pretty clear that Claire barely know the whole family. That feels so strange to me. So all through highschool + whatever, her sister was hanging out with Finn being his BFF and just...leaving Claire behind? That's just not convincing to me, it's her TWIN.
- Not really a flaw but Finn was a bit dumb. He sort of alluded that he didn't really see a difference between the two twins and "hadn't thought about what made them different". What the hell have you been doing as Lia's best friend this whole time then? Like you're only friends with one twin but not the other, but didn't really see the differences between the two? Then why are you Lia's friend in the first place? Why not Claire too? This isn't a flaw in the book so much as a flaw in Finn's character cause he comes off as sketchy for it.
- I wanted more snowboarding
LIked this way more than I thought I would.
Notable good things:
- Both Bauer and Claire felt like super fleshed out and complicated people, despite the short timeline
- As did several of the side characters. I wouldn't have minded a little MORE there, but I basically always think that
- I liked that Bauer wasn't actually an "asshole-till-you-get-to-know-him" or even really a bad boy trope, but was actually just a guy dealing with his trauma and generally misunderstood. It was a nice change of pace.
- Claire I think was the real star in the book. How she saw and dealt with the people in her life was so interesting to me and I loved her voice and how her mind worked. I like that she wasn't the low hanging fruit trope of "shy but is strong" woman that often comes off as superficial. Instead she was a strong woman who just never had the chance or need to show it before now.
- Loved Claire's complicated relationship with Lia. And everyone else for that matter.
- The scenery. I love being stuck in that little cabin
- The situation. I know it's cheesy and a little eyerolly, but I love the coincidences that brought them together and the winter storm that kept them together longer. It was all done very convincingly
- Similarly, in another context the ending would have felt TOO perfectly resolved, but it felt natural and convincing.
Things I didn't like but wasn't enough for me to not like the book:
- Basically the definition of insta-love. All of their relationship building takes place over like 4-5 days. They managed to make it feel convincing, but that doesn't mean I can't do the math and won't side-eye it.
- I get ~why~ Bauer freaked at the Big Drama, that there was a lot working there under the surface and a lot of things in play. BUT they'd still only been together for like 3 days at that point and the reaction felt a bit uncalled for. Especially giving the actual details it feels uncalled for. But trauma isn't always rational so i'll allow it.
- Why did Claire know like nothing about Finn's family? Her twin sister is his best friend, but somehow she has basically no contact with his family? They made it pretty clear that Claire barely know the whole family. That feels so strange to me. So all through highschool + whatever, her sister was hanging out with Finn being his BFF and just...leaving Claire behind? That's just not convincing to me, it's her TWIN.
- Not really a flaw but Finn was a bit dumb. He sort of alluded that he didn't really see a difference between the two twins and "hadn't thought about what made them different". What the hell have you been doing as Lia's best friend this whole time then? Like you're only friends with one twin but not the other, but didn't really see the differences between the two? Then why are you Lia's friend in the first place? Why not Claire too? This isn't a flaw in the book so much as a flaw in Finn's character cause he comes off as sketchy for it.
- I wanted more snowboarding