rulesofromance

[rulesofromance]

the flatshare, beth o’leary

OFFICIAL RATING: ★★☆☆☆

first read: 2/01/21

i’ve been putting this review off because, if i can be upfront, this book just really fell flat for me. i went into it with mediocre expectations and really wanted to give it a fighting chance but i just could not for the life of me get into it. 

also, not that this is important, but i usually pick books based on how nice i think the cover looks. i included the cover that was on my copy, but my favorite is this one. 

alright i know i broke structure for the hating game, but thats because my brain was still fried. i’m gonna go back to the positives/negatives thing because i think it works well and it helps me keep my thoughts organized 

the positives:

⇢ the premise! seriously i did really like the premise of this. it was unique, fresh, i felt like it had the potential to be done extremely well. unfortunately, in my opinion i think it fell a little short. 

⇢ the portrayal of abuse, and specifically gaslighting. i think one thing this book does insanely right is the way abuse, and leaving an abusive relationship, is portrayed. at first, we feel kind of iffy about tiffy’s asshole of an ex, but she doesn’t yet recognize that he was abusive, and so neither do we. the only hints we get are from her friends, who don’t say anything explicit but refer to him being controlling. but slowly, as the book progresses and there’s more space in between tiffy and her ex, she starts to realize that her relationship was not okay. that he would actively make her question herself, that he would gaslight her. AND SHE GOES TO THERAPY! 

⇢ uhhhh honestly. i don’t know. that’s it. like, genuinely. 

the mediocre:

⇢ this novel is closed-door, meaning no sex actually happens on the page. it’s fade to black, cut away, etc. etc. and this written v well! i felt like there were always smooth transitions, and it wasn’t as abrupt as some other closed door novels can be. 

⇢ the johnny white subplot. it was cute, and possibly one of the only things i cared about for the entire novel. but it felt kind of ... abandoned on the side of the road? it was pushed off and then given like a 3 sentence resolution. 

the negatives:

⇢ oh boy. where do we begin. leons inner voice, probably? i know, i know there are people who have written countless defenses for his inner voice, and for the writing style on leons point of views. i get it. i see your arguments. i do not care. his chapters are written with very few personal pronouns, and even fewer complete sentences. it’s disjointed and a bit hard to read, and it robs leon of any real personality. i understand if during dialogue, he was more reserved as the point is supposed to be that he’s a reserved person, but when his ENTIRE inner voice is written like that, it’s hard to actually see him as a character. 

⇢ the notes. the notes. the notes. ARGHHHH i wish they had been done.. better. i wish most of this book had been done better. leon and tiffy do most of their communicating through the notes, which would be a very cute idea but unfortunately there was usually no description or thought process in between notes, and leon stuck to maybe one sentence. so, we get a long wordy note from tiffy, not explanation, and then a short note from leon that conveys no personality or emotion. for most of the book, we’re stuck reading them correspond through notes with leon saying almost nothing and then all of a sudden hes into her now?

⇢ they had such little chemistry. it felt like neither character was fleshed out fully beyond their independent plot points. and i didnt find that they had chemistry, at all? i think bottom line i just didn’t care about their relationship. they didn’t pull you in, and because most of there talking was done through the notes and leon mainly said nothing, we had so little to go on. and when they finally did meet, it felt like we were seeing the author speedrun a relationship. 

⇢ the side characters. they were annoying, i dont know how else to say it. most of the time gerty just came off as rude, like, that’s it. and her entire existence was solely because she was a lawyer, and leon needed a lawyer for his brother. mo existed to.... i dont know? be a therapist? but not tiffy’s therapist? be gerty’s secret lover? be the “soft” to gerty’s “hard”. we only heard from mo and gerty when tiffy was going to them for advice, and they lacked .. depth... purpose. and then you have rachel, who i guess was there to be devils advocate? she was tiffy’s OTHER best friend who gerty hates, because jealousy ofc. all rachel is there to do is to talk about sex, and encourage tiffy to get back out there.  

⇢ this is probably a me specific thing but, i had personal issues with the way tiffy was described? it seemed like more than once tiffy was described as TALL but not fat, never fat. there was even a point where leon specifies that he thought she would be “dumpier” but was happy she wasn’t. it just felt... eh. i dont know. whats the point in making sure we know shes not fat? 

overall, i don’t know. i really wanted to like it, but i cannot help the fact that i didn’t. i definitely understand the appeal, for some people, but for me  it just felt.... odd. the premise was cool, the execution was bad, case closed bring in the dancing lobsters. 

[rulesofromance]

the hating game, sally thorne

OFFICIAL RATING: ★★★★★

first read: 1/29/21

okay, i’ll admit i went into this with really high expectations because of how highly recommended it was on r/romancebooks and in the beginning i thought it was going to fall flat because of that, and it almost did!!! but then it was like it throttled me against the wall and held my hostage while i finished it in like, 10 hours. 

i literally stayed up until 4am, got up and went to work and then finished it sitting at my desk. it was embarrassing. 

i was going to pretend to have like a format for these, but i think i’m just going to wing it based on each book. and ooh boy, this one was a trip. 

seriously, i basically read it in one sitting. and while i was reading it, i was like wow this is amazing and i never need anything else. then i finished it, felt a little hollow, and started to reflect on it and.... eh. don’t get me wrong, i’m obsessed with this book. and i still am standing by my 5 stars, because it gave me the core of what i wanted in a romance novel. 

but.. afterwards, when you’re not swept up in the dynamic of lucy and josh, and you can actually think about the book there are a lot of parts that start to lose their charm. like the obsessiveness, for one. for some reason in the book when its happening it just makes sense (i have a theory on this) but afterwards its like, holy shit, both of them were fucking freaks. 

my MAIN gripe, i think, is the relentless bringing up how small and petite lucy is. like okay, we get it, shes sooooo tiny sooooo unbelievably small shes just the smallest person alive on this earth and josh is SOOOOO biggggggg like okay okay i know. it felt a bit alienating in a way? it ruined the illusion or the immersion that often comes with romance novels of “oh this could be me... this could happen to me” and it was just kind of annoying, tbh. it felt like every other page we were talking about how tiny lucy is. 

but my theory, is that the hating game exists solely to talk about lucy and josh. almost every chapter, every scene, is lucy and josh interacting or their interaction isn’t far off. you go no longer than maybe 2 pages without lucy/josh either talking to each other, or thinking about each other, or doing something to each other. and so it’s like the constant satisfaction of chemistry. you never have any downtime to get bored, or really analyze the meaning or the writing style. and they DO have chemistry

i know this books has a big reputation for being very funny, and some of the jokes i did actually laugh at but most of the time i felt the jokes fell a little flat. they felt very... WhAtS aDuLtInG millennial humor, if that makes sense. 

one thing i did really enjoy, is the way we get to see josh and lucy’s communication adapt and change the closer that they get. in the beginning there’s almost no communication, and lucy freaking out or acting weird is usually met with conflict which doesnt get resolved for sometimes days but slowly we work towards josh recognizing the freak out, and trying to pry an answer out of her. towards the end, josh knows when she’s freaking out and gives her time but still presses to try and find an answer so they can work it out.

and, i mean, we have to talk about the room thing, right? when i first read it, i was like “oh yeah him painting his room the color of her eyes literally like two days after they met is fine and normal :) very sweet and normal thing he did” but like? holy shit? kind of cringe, kind of weird and obsessive. but it seems like most of their dynamic was obsessive behavior on both sides. 

overall, reading the book was an insanely enjoyable experience, but when you look back on it you really start to see the insane plethora of flaws. it’s carried by chemistry, and a compelling enough plot that relies on a lot of tropes but i would still recommend it. 

[rulesofromance]

i just finished the hating game and i feel like im going rabid 

[rulesofromance]

bringing down the duke, evie dunmore

OFFICIAL RATING: ★★★☆☆

first read: 1/26/21

the first romance novel of 2021 ( !!! ) i think the most surprising part about this is that it’s historical fiction. ive never been interested in anything that felt particularly dated, or historical, but it was one of the books recommended by r/romancebooks and i’d just finished watching bridgerton so that probably had something to do with it. 

going into this my expecations were absolutely on the FLOOR, which is why i think i ended up enjoying it a lot more than i would have otherwise. it wasn’t AMAZING, but it did manage to fill the stereotypical romance void in my heart which is what matters

the positives: 

⇢ the chemistry between the main characters. all of their bickering, jokes, understanding, tension, etc. it all felt very natural and real. the portion of the book that relies solely on their chemistry to carry the plot along is my favorite

⇢ the pacing, the pacing, the pacing. it felt familiar, and similar to how a fanfic moves. not so fast that its insanely unrealistic, but just fast enough that it doesn’t feel heavy and sluggish. 

⇢ somehow managed to not feel super dated despite the fact that they bring up old 1880s shit i cannot even pretend 2 have an interest in. like, seriously. i read the entire book but every time they started to talk about dukedom, ye olden politics, clergymen, etc. etc. my eyes would glaze over. but it made up for this with every other interaction managing to not feel super out of place for its time, but still feeling modern at the same time. 

the negatives:

⇢ the feminine softness, masculine hardness trope. it was a little.... overwhelming, at some times. from the beginning every intimate interaction with annabelle and sebastian is described in SOME WAY as annabelle being soft, and warm, and sebastian being Hard and Rigid. by the end it was just annoying. 

⇢ inconsistencies with annabelles character, and the suffragist movement. so, i find that annabelles position on the suffragist movement changes almost from scene to scene. in the beginning, she views the meetings as a nuisance and can’t imagine anyone would actually volunteer. and several times she vocalizes that some of the things the suffragists do are not what “respectable” women do. then in other times, she goes out of her way to vocally defend the movement, as if she has some great care for feminism. it just felt a little odd, and like her stance on the movement changed just to benefit the story or move the plot in some way. 

⇢ the side characters. this isn’t ENTIRELY a negative, i did enjoy the side characters. i just felt like none of them were really fleshed out or give any purpose outside of being there just to be there. the only side character that i think was done any justice was the dukes younger brother, peregrin. the rest of them were very 2 dimensional. 

⇢ the sex scenes. seriously, the word cock was brought up with ease, and we got a descriptive blowjob but not once could she describe a vagina? not even a hint to a clitoris? literally, seeing the phrase “he flicked his thumb” but then never saying what in the world his thumb is flicking, it felt so weird. not to mention the weird use of the word “mount”. i get it, but i’m just not mentally prepared to have to hear someone describe sex as “mounting” someone. 

OVERALL 

it’s an okay book. a little annoying and eye roll inducing at times, but it’s cheesy and the writing is nice.