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A review by mjsam
The Art of Us by KL Hughes
4.0
ARC provided by YLVA in return for an honest review.
I wanted to read this story because I enjoyed Popcorn Love and this had good reviews. I was hesitant though, because past/present romances are not a favourite of mine.
This isn’t a ‘fun’ book, in that it’s very angsty and there’s a lot of pining. Also, there was no separation to show when a flashback was starting within a chapter, (by that I mean use of italics or some other formatting) which did make this hard to read, because the majority of the characters appear in both the past and present, and sometimes the time jumps weren’t immediately apparent.
The other problem I had was that, while the flashbacks showed how Alex and Charlee fell in love and built their relationship, the present was just them pining for each other, whining to friends and family, and being in completely wrong for them relationships. That both of them had other partners to get rid of didn’t help, as that was always going to be the outcome, but it dragged on (for Alex anyway) way too long.
I did enjoy the backstory, and I loved the secondary characters (probably more than the leads to be honest, at least in the present) but the present day angst was too much for me, I was with most of the secondary characters and just wished they’d clean up their mess and get on with it. I did appreciate that Hughes didn’t feel the need to make either of their other partners ‘bad guys’, just people that they didn’t quite fit with but had settled for.
This is well written and Hughes does a wonderful job of making you feel the longing and pain of their separation and the immediacy of their feelings once they are back in one another’s orbit, she also gives attention to how difficult a break up can be on family and friends, especially when there’s no real ‘bad guy’. I give it 3.5 stars but have rounded up.
I wanted to read this story because I enjoyed Popcorn Love and this had good reviews. I was hesitant though, because past/present romances are not a favourite of mine.
This isn’t a ‘fun’ book, in that it’s very angsty and there’s a lot of pining. Also, there was no separation to show when a flashback was starting within a chapter, (by that I mean use of italics or some other formatting) which did make this hard to read, because the majority of the characters appear in both the past and present, and sometimes the time jumps weren’t immediately apparent.
The other problem I had was that, while the flashbacks showed how Alex and Charlee fell in love and built their relationship, the present was just them pining for each other, whining to friends and family, and being in completely wrong for them relationships. That both of them had other partners to get rid of didn’t help, as that was always going to be the outcome, but it dragged on (for Alex anyway) way too long.
I did enjoy the backstory, and I loved the secondary characters (probably more than the leads to be honest, at least in the present) but the present day angst was too much for me, I was with most of the secondary characters and just wished they’d clean up their mess and get on with it. I did appreciate that Hughes didn’t feel the need to make either of their other partners ‘bad guys’, just people that they didn’t quite fit with but had settled for.
This is well written and Hughes does a wonderful job of making you feel the longing and pain of their separation and the immediacy of their feelings once they are back in one another’s orbit, she also gives attention to how difficult a break up can be on family and friends, especially when there’s no real ‘bad guy’. I give it 3.5 stars but have rounded up.