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A review by hsinjulit
Give in to Me by Elle Spencer
2.0
Content warnings: suicide jokes, rape joke, incest jokes, graphic sex, gun, past infidelity
I am conflicted about Give In to Me. On one hand, I cannot deny that it was entertaining and I appreciate that one of the main characters is a book blogger; on the other though, some conflict resolutions fell short for me and I also couldn’t overlook many of the inappropriate jokes throughout, namely, a handful of suicide jokes, one rape joke, and two incest jokes.
Novelist Whitney Ainsworth (late-30s, lesbian) hasn’t had sex way too long since her divorce with her famous ex-wife, Reece, so when the chance arises, she spontaneously has a one-night stand with a stranger who turns out to be the book blogger, Gabriela “Brie” Talbot (30), that wrote a cruel review of her newest book, book three of the Piper Kane series. As they navigate their awkward dynamic post-sex, Whitney and Gabriela also have to deal with the drama that comes with the new Piper Kane movie, starring Reece.
The official blurb is slightly misleading. I went into the book thinking the whole story would center around Whitney and Gabriela getting past their differences and author-blogger conflict, but it was resolved fairly early. Instead, it is more about living under the scrutiny of the public eye due to the filming of the Piper Kane movie.
Give In to Me felt a bit like two novellas where the first part is about the main characters making up and the second about Hollywood drama. I thought having their relationship built upon a one-night stand would be fun to read about, since it is one of the few situations where I don’t mind instalust. But when lust becomes the solution to most problems, it left me confused and unsatisfied. I also couldn’t quite understand that if Whitney is Gabriela’s favorite author, why would she write such a mean review? Maybe it wasn’t mean. Then why would Whitney be so angry about it?
Yet I am glad to see them get together because it was fun to watch them getting sucked into the bigger drama involving Reece, the ex-wife who cheated on Whitney. If you told me I’d end up liking Reece when I started the book, I wouldn’t have believed it. And yet, I just might like Reece a bit more than I like the mains, but the best character award goes to Brie’s mother.
Now about the jokes. Spencer writes some of the funniest dialogues and there were indeed a lot of hilarious moments in Give In to Me. A lot of them were sex jokes, which were fun. But a lot of the others were suicide jokes and one semi–rape joke. Those left a sour taste in my mouth.
Also, being someone who unconsciously keeps careful track of time and locations of objects and people while reading, there were several scenes that made me unsure how we are suddenly there. And the filming of the Piper Kane movie seems to be way less than three months. Try one. The crew is incredibly efficient.
I enjoyed Spencer’s The Holiday Treatment (my review) and loved her Waiting for You (my review), but I guess I am not the target audience for Give In to Me.
I received a digital review copy from Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Buddy read with Gabriella! Check out her review here!
I am conflicted about Give In to Me. On one hand, I cannot deny that it was entertaining and I appreciate that one of the main characters is a book blogger; on the other though, some conflict resolutions fell short for me and I also couldn’t overlook many of the inappropriate jokes throughout, namely, a handful of suicide jokes, one rape joke, and two incest jokes.
Novelist Whitney Ainsworth (late-30s, lesbian) hasn’t had sex way too long since her divorce with her famous ex-wife, Reece, so when the chance arises, she spontaneously has a one-night stand with a stranger who turns out to be the book blogger, Gabriela “Brie” Talbot (30), that wrote a cruel review of her newest book, book three of the Piper Kane series. As they navigate their awkward dynamic post-sex, Whitney and Gabriela also have to deal with the drama that comes with the new Piper Kane movie, starring Reece.
The official blurb is slightly misleading. I went into the book thinking the whole story would center around Whitney and Gabriela getting past their differences and author-blogger conflict, but it was resolved fairly early. Instead, it is more about living under the scrutiny of the public eye due to the filming of the Piper Kane movie.
Give In to Me felt a bit like two novellas where the first part is about the main characters making up and the second about Hollywood drama. I thought having their relationship built upon a one-night stand would be fun to read about, since it is one of the few situations where I don’t mind instalust. But when lust becomes the solution to most problems, it left me confused and unsatisfied. I also couldn’t quite understand that if Whitney is Gabriela’s favorite author, why would she write such a mean review? Maybe it wasn’t mean. Then why would Whitney be so angry about it?
Yet I am glad to see them get together because it was fun to watch them getting sucked into the bigger drama involving Reece, the ex-wife who cheated on Whitney. If you told me I’d end up liking Reece when I started the book, I wouldn’t have believed it. And yet, I just might like Reece a bit more than I like the mains, but the best character award goes to Brie’s mother.
Now about the jokes. Spencer writes some of the funniest dialogues and there were indeed a lot of hilarious moments in Give In to Me. A lot of them were sex jokes, which were fun. But a lot of the others were suicide jokes and one semi–rape joke. Those left a sour taste in my mouth.
Also, being someone who unconsciously keeps careful track of time and locations of objects and people while reading, there were several scenes that made me unsure how we are suddenly there. And the filming of the Piper Kane movie seems to be way less than three months. Try one. The crew is incredibly efficient.
I enjoyed Spencer’s The Holiday Treatment (my review) and loved her Waiting for You (my review), but I guess I am not the target audience for Give In to Me.
I received a digital review copy from Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Buddy read with Gabriella! Check out her review here!