A review by cakerbee
The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I'm so sorry to hate this book. I wanted to love it, but the characters were horrible. Marcela was delusional, Ben was an asshole, and Theo was just bland. He was more like a caricature of what every woman wants to read in their MMC instead of a real man. 

The writing was weak. It often felt like a fan fiction to me. You can tell the author was obsessed with her FMC, Marcela, because even though Marcela was an idiot, everyone was always in awe of her and praising her for how amazing she was. Sometimes a character would deliver a "big speech" that was supposed to have a strong impact, but it was poorly written so it didn't have the landing it needed, but the other characters were all having huge reactions to it. 

Some things truly just didn't make any sense either. Towards the end, a character questions when Theo slept on Marcela's couch, as if it's a huge red flag about their fake relationship. Maybe he just fell asleep on her couch one night? Why is that something so crazy it needs to be questioned? 

Timing was all over the place. Sometimes the author would write that weeks went by, but the next chapter says it's only been a couple days. Time seemed really inconsistent, so the pacing always felt off. 

Overall, a bummer of a book.