Review by mollyff - Any Trope But You

mollyff 's review for:

Any Trope But You by Victoria Lavine

2.5

emotional lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I really did want to like this book. The premise is cute, and I'm a sucker for a self-aware romance book. But this book wasn't self-aware about quite enough, like the fact that we collectively need to be over third act break-ups.

Margot Bradley, a romance writer, flees to Alaska to avoid the fallout from her Happily Never After document -- where she wrote the real endings to her romance books -- leaking. Her sister buys her a six week stay at a resort where she will have no internet so she can escape and recover and write her next book, a murder mystery, and also have a break from taking care of her sister and herself. She of course meets a walking, talking, perfect romance hero, Forrest, and she assumes that he can't be as perfect as he seems. What ensues is a whole bunch of romance tropes -- enemies to lovers, only one tent, snowed in. And a horrible, horrible third act break-up. It's one of the tropiest ones I've read in a long time.

Margot and Forrest have amazing sex, and on their drive back, he finds out that his dad, who Forrest returned to Alaska to care for out of obligation, had a major stroke. Forrest turns around and tells Margot that she's a distraction and he has to take care of his dad, even though she's offering to come with him. So Margot goes back to LA, brokenhearted, to find out that her sister, who she's been taking care of and effectively smothering, is force-moving-out of their shared apartment so Margot can get on with her life. It's full of making decisions for other people. And the third act break-up is so frustrating. I already wasn't enjoying the trope of parent-with-horrible-medical-needs, and for Forrest to refuse help from anyone is insane.

And then it takes two months for them to get back together with a bonkers grand gesture. I appreciate what this book was doing. But it just wasn't the right tropes for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for providing me with an eARC of Any Trope But You in exchange for my honest review.

Content Warnings