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572 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 12, 2022
I am not showing it any mercy.
To say I had massive expectations is an understatement. I jumped into this knowing I was getting into a romcom. I was waiting for people we meet on vacation feels or Wall of Winnipeg swoons and I got a big pile of the most obnoxious, insufferable writing and plot devices I've seen in a looooong time.
This author managed to write the same book twice... inside of the same book. Does that make sense? Let's start with the fact that this was nearly 700 pages long and every time the main character POUTED because she needed caffeine, I wanted to live a little less.
I need to be fair... Some of the sex scenes were sweet, and this couple could have been cute. This book just had to be AT LEAST 300 pages shorter and the characters had to have a personality and the maturity of a normal human being and not sound like they were all 12. I don't think that is too much to ask, honestly.
This book managed to include every single thing I hate in romcoms, every-single-thing.
Leaving the EXTREMELY obnoxious, forced and stereotypical gay representation in this aside... Let's start with the fact that some authors just go overboard with their "sunshine" characters. Why does every sunshine woman need to be co-dependent? Why can't you write a NORMAL bubbly woman, who knows how to be a functional adult?
Nooooooo, but that's not stereotypical enough. A sunshine character is quirky!!! She loves coffee! She can't remember where she parked her car! She is so entertaining!! Did I mention she LOOOOOOOOOOVES coffee? Oh I didn't? Don't worry, the author will make her groan and pout 22 times while she's thinking about coffee before chapter 10, and that is just soooooooooo sexy.
We need to be done with the idea that bubbly women are stupid and helpless women. I can't relate to female characters like that. Have you ever met a woman? In what world would a woman not know what to do in a crisis situation?!
She cries to a complete stranger and asks him: please, help me, what should I do? 5 times in the first two chapters. The fact that a 40 year old man finds a broken shell of a woman attractive is a red flag of its own.
There are so many things that annoyed the fuck out of me in this book, none of this plot made sense. None of this was down-to-earth, realistic, everything felt forced, all the jokes and the stereotyping were taken to a MAXIMUM.
Oh Julia, but it's fiction. Give it a rest. I have a list of romantic comedies with sunshine and grumpy characters that were written like a damn masterpiece. This one is just bad, I am sorry.
How do you expect me to find their childish bickering from chapter 1 attractive and sexy? The most mature character in this entire book was an 11 year old.
Honorable mentions to: "I knew you'd have a "fuck me body" sentence that came out of our hero's mouth at some point during their first time.
She filled 700 pages with the same back and forth, multiple times, and I think 300 of those pages were inner dialogues of Knox being the most pathetic 40 year old I have ever met and our female lead thinking about coffee, orgasms or having chats with her gay best friend who knows everythinggggg about hair!! Spare me.
This could have been an ok, sweet story if she just had dialed it down a notch, had not repeated herself 300 times and written normal, down-to-earth characters.
I am honestly annoyed at the misrepresentation of gay characters. I am sick of bubbly women being portrayed as stupid and helpless, I am sick of men's lack of emotional responsibility and maturity being down-played, forgiven easily and used as a plot device. (And I am a dark romance reader so that’s saying something)
This was a bad, boring, over-the-top stupid, over-hyped book.
Sorry, that is my brutally honest review.
It's ok if you liked this book. On a good day I can kind of see why, I feel bad for it, honestly. It just compiled every single thing I hate in romcoms and threw it at me and I am pissed at it lol, so yeah, two PITY stars.
I did also hate it happened one summer , another popular and loved book that people compare to this one a lot. Keep that in mind and take it with a grain a salt, this book might be for you! It’s just definitely not for me!
"My tight, wet wonderland."
☀️ sunshine runaway bride & grumpy bad boy barber/business owner
🐶 a cute dog
👵 a cool grandma
👩👧 a newly single - mum who had guardianship of her 11 year old niece temporary, cause her twin sister stole her car, left town and left her daughter with her
🧠 smart & funny kid
🏡 small town vibes a.k.a tons of gossip & meddling folks
🏠 forced proximity (mcs are neighbors)
🍹 boss / employee
💑 very supportive and loving parents from the heroine’s side
💖 heroine has the best gay best friend (1. why are the male best friends in romance always gay if they are not the love interest? 2. he is in the mafia or what are those mysterious business calls he always has to take??? 3. where is Stef’s book??!)
🔥 Hero hasgreathot friends too and a hot younger brother who is a cop (Lucian-sir spare me a hand in marriage?? Nash-daddy handcuff me to your bed???)
“Why are you whispering?”
“Because he lives right there,” I said, pointing my glass in the direction of Knox’s cabin.
“Oooh. Grumpy next-door neighbor. That’s one of my favorite tropes.”
“The first time he met me, he called me trash.”
“That bitch.”
“Well, technically he thought I was Tina [the twin sister] when he was yelling at me in front of an entire cafe full of strangers.”
“That vision-impaired bitch.”
“God, I love you.” I sighed.
“Naomi, this isn’t what I wanted.”
“Barf,” Waylay complained.You and me both, Waylay.
“You make broken things whole again. Me. You made me whole. And every time you smile at me, I feel like I hit the lottery again.”
“There’s a difference between taking care of someone because you love them and taking care of someone because you want them to love you.”
“He was unfairly gorgeous. Too bad about the whole terrible personality thing.”
“Why don’t you ever fucking listen?” he grumbled, lips moving against my hair.
“Because sometimes people don’t know how to ask for what they really need. You needed a hug.”
“No. I didn’t,” he rasped. He was quiet for a long moment, and I listened to his heartbeat. “I needed you.”