verahelwood 's review for:

Red String Theory by Lauren Kung Jessen

3.0

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This made for a really fun read for book club! It was the tamest romance I've read in a while (I don't even think I would call this one PG-13. It was barely PG), but it was still a lot of fun. The characters were cute, the use of LA and NY as characters in their own right was fun, and the intertwining of art and science throughout the book was really interesting. I enjoyed the adventures our characters kept going on and the respective moments where they realized they were in love with each other were so beautiful that it felt like I was watching a movie moment. All of that leads into the bad: I absolutely loved the first 3/4ths of the book, but the ending felt too easy and entirely un-earned. I assumed all of the red string theory tests would be relevant later in the book, but they were totally forgotten. Did we ever even meet the museum employee who lost her ID badge? Was taking the wrong direction meaningful for any reason? The tests didn't further their relationships or their careers. Why were they included at all?? Plus, they just decided "love conquers all, so we don't need to figure out any of the hard questions"? They didn't address or solve any of the issues that actually kept them apart during the book. And the best friend just kind of disappears at the end