Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - The Idea of You

Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

The Idea of You by Robinne Lee

37 reviews

kelly_e's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Title: The Idea of You
Author: Robinne Lee
Genre: Romance
Rating: 3.50
Pub Date: June 13, 2017

T H R E E • W O R D S

Juicy • Angsty • Intense

📖 S Y N O P S I S

When Solène Marchand, the thirty-nine-year-old owner of a prestigious art gallery in Los Angeles, takes her daughter, Isabelle, to meet her favorite boy band, she does so reluctantly and at her ex-husband’s request. The last thing she expects is to make a connection with one of the members of the world-famous August Moon. But Hayes Campbell is clever, winning, confident, and posh, and the attraction is immediate. That he is all of twenty years old further complicates things.

What begins as a series of clandestine trysts quickly evolves into a passionate relationship. It is a journey that spans continents as Solène and Hayes navigate each other’s disparate worlds: from stadium tours to international art fairs to secluded hideaways in Paris and Miami. And for Solène, it is as much a reclaiming of self, as it is a rediscovery of happiness and love. When their romance becomes a viral sensation, and both she and her daughter become the target of rabid fans and an insatiable media, Solène must face how her new status has impacted not only her life, but the lives of those closest to her.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Since her Princess Diaries days, I have always been an Anne Hathaway fan, so when I learned she'd be Solène in the movie adaptation of The Idea of You I added the book to my TBR. It also came highly recommended by several bookish friends and I knew summer time would be the perfect time to finally pick it up.

What started out highly engaging, soon turned to the same thing happening - them meeting up in a different city and having sex - from one chapter to the next. There is no denying the potential of the story, yet it lacked substance and I simply got bored with the repetitiveness of the the plot. The way the sex overtakes the narrative was disappointing.

I also had a hard time making a connection with the world they are living in. There is a lot of glitz, glamour, and privilege within the celebrity lifestyle, the L.A. setting, and all of the jet setting for their meetups, which makes their world seem way out of grasp.

Overall, The Idea of You had the makings of a smash hit, yet unfortunately it lacked the necessary substance. Despite making total sense, the ending was so abrupt I didn't actually believe it was the end. I did appreciate the author choosing to have the woman be the older of the two characters, and I'll be interested to watch the movie to see my thoughts on it.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• age-gap
• boy bands
• secret trysts

⚠️ CW: sexual content, divorce, bullying, stalking, alcohol, sexual harassment, cursing, suicide attempt, self-harm, injury/injury detail, blood, pregnancy, panic attacks/disorders

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Love, she said, was not always perfect, and not exactly how you expected it to be. But when it descended upon you, there was no controlling it."

Content Warnings

egheinze's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

Content Warnings

theprinceofdenmark's review against another edition

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emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

this book was mis-marketed so badly that whoever was in charge should be fired. this is straight up erotica with a sad ending, not a lighthearted novel about a mom and temu harry styles. that said, it was well written and the ending made more sense than most of this genre.

Content Warnings

fkshg8465's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It was easy to see through the eyes of the protagonist, because it was easy for me to judge the choices I might’ve made at every step in the relationship. Just as the public judged her, I found myself doing the same. I also found it weirdly believable. I still hated the ending, probably because I’ve done the same thing with past relationships myself, and I have a lot of lingering self loathing. So the book was successful in these ways. However, I hated the storyline and pretty much all the make characters.

Content Warnings

vreyna20_2004's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

I hated this book. God, the only thing that I liked about this book was the fact that Hayes bought a painting that Solene liked, and had it shipped to her house but other than that? ASS.

All Solene does is make fun of little girls (who are the same age as her daughter) and calling them “girls in heat”. Like this 40-year old is telling her daughter to not feel like she shouldn’t exist because she’s a girl, she then goes on and judges little girls. She has an existential crisis about not being visible because of her age which is why Solene is adamant in having her daughter feel comfortable but then you go on and be the people who put down girls. What the actual fuck?? I kid you not she calls little fucking girls, bitches and that’s what enraged me. All because she didn’t like that they were sending her threats. She groups every fan as those “bitches” forgetting that her own daughter is included in that.

Then Solene has a weird obsession with Hayes’ age where she says things like “it was both horrifying and impressive.” after he talked about being groomed. And also, how she’s impressed that a 20 year old is able to last longer than most of her flings like she is comparing him to her college flings. She’s also mentioning the fact that he will dump his used condom while rolling a new one. The fuck? And don’t get me started at Solene constantly calling Hayes a boy. She would say “oh, sweet boy” like he’s her child but then she’s saying things about how she feels old with him. Like she gets mad that her husband is dating someone younger than her and also gets upset that she can’t date someone younger without society looking down upon her when she could just fucking embrace it. Fucking god. OH, and they constantly say “hi” and “hi” made me want to rip my hair off.

This story also doesn’t have any plot because it’s just Hayes and her running around to fuck and yeah I kept groaning. They’re not a good couple just cause they have mind-blowing sex. Actually, I lied. There is a plot. The plot? Was not hurting her daughter. And what do they do? Hurt the daughter. And what does Solene do when her daughter finds out? She tells her daughter that she doesn’t love him the way she does basically downplaying her emotions. You’re the mom and you’re going to tell your daughter how she feels. I get it, she’s 13 years old but when I was 13 the things I felt were intensified and for her to downplay it just angered me. What kind of shitty mom is she? And the fact that I would be the same age as the daughter and my mom would be the same as Solene so my anger just intensified. Like she’s a fucking shitty ass mom, I don’t care. And I was listening to the audiobook but man I feel bad for those people who don’t know French cause I barely understood what they said.

But the thing that angered me about this book was the author. UGH!!!!! The things I found out about the author just made me irritated to read this book but I wanted background noise. For starters, shge hates that women’s works are called fanfiction while men’s works aren’t which is valid, however, to take an EXTREMELY popular trope from fanfiction, take inspiration not just from Harry Styles supposedly even though it feels like a Harry Styles fanfic, and then write a somewhat self-insert about you being 40 and dating a musician then people would start calling it fanfiction. And to have the gall to cry about your story being called a fanfiction and a romance when it’s been commercialized as a romance while you did nothing to stop it or correct it, is fucking hilarious. As someone who wants to get into writing, the way you need to get a literary agent all depends on the genre. If you write a fantasy, then find a fantasy agent and it seems as if she didn’t do that. Talk to your agent, the company producing your books, literally anyone so that when it’s being put into shelves it’s not categorized as such. I get romances have rules I don’t like happy endings but to go crying to a journalist about the category is so pathetic. This book is absolute garbage and for her to go on and say that she likes literary fiction and that’s why her books is a literary fiction when it’s mostly romance (sex) oriented is fucking laughable.

I don’t fucking know why I even read this book. Maybe it’s the spirit of Halloween that got me but man do I regret reading this book.

Content Warnings

luxxltyd's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

enchantingreads_rosyreviews's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

“Love is this very precious thing, Izz. It’s this precious, magical thing. But it’s not finite. There’s not a limited amount of it out there. You just have to be open to allowing it to find you. Allowing it to happen.” I was not entirely sure that I believed this, but I needed her to.

To be completely honest, I read this book simply because the movie was coming out. I didn’t know what to expect because I didn’t know it existed. However, once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down! The author writes solely from the FMC’s POV, leading the reader into a world of name-dropping artists, designers and brands, while taking us along a whirlwind affair with a rockstar as they trek all over the globe. The whole world feels sophisticated, which I assume will translate well in its film adaptation. But it’s the romance between these two characters, Solène and Hayes, that sucks you in from the start! Although it seems like the world and their own minds doubt their union’s strength, they can’t help the magnetic pull towards one another. Their relationship grows organically and beautifully… I can’t wait to see the movie because I liked this book.

"...being scared and torn, at the same time elated that I’d found someone who had taken the time to know me, and all the little things that made me so very happy. And how I did not want to let him go... Love, she said, was not always perfect, and not exactly how you expected it to be. But when it descended upon you, there was no controlling it."

🎤

This book was not what I expected: I predicted it would be a fun story about an older woman living out a fantasy everyone has about dating a young boy bander. I hoped there would be some discussion about the double standard of older women dating younger men (they're "cougars" & are belittled in society) as opposed to older men dating younger women (who are celebrated as being "the man" & their masculinity gets a boost). I wanted to live in a fancy, celebrity world with lavish parties, backstage access, hotel suites, and private planes. Which this book definitely delivered.

However, it surprised me because it felt like a realistic version of this fantasy playing out. Both characters were forced to examine their identity in society: a single mom, career woman, dating a younger man & an overworked younger man dating an older woman, adored by thousands of fans, dealing with imposter syndrome or feeling like he's not being taken seriously. But they also had to deal with the realities of their relationship & everything that came with that: constant trotting around the globe, media & fandom attention, questioning the reality of feelings developing & managing how those closest to them were dealing with their relationship. And I appreciated this surprising realistic spin on a fantasy dream. It felt like Robinne truly and honestly answered the question: what if he saw me from the stage and we fell in love?

Content Warnings

lauren_shilling's review against another edition

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emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is absolutely a five star review, but I want to start it off by saying that this is not at all a perfect book. However, I loved it so much, and I think it deserves five stars for the emotional response I had to it. Sometimes you just have to give a book five stars for the reading experience, not the book itself, because in the end, to me the experience is the most important part of reading. I wanted the movie with a friend and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, so I wanted to read the book. The book surprised me, because the tone is very different than the movie. To me, this book is less of a romance and more of a contemporary story that happens to center on two people falling in love, if that makes sense. It also feels intelligently written to me. The author clearly has a well rounded view of humanity in general, as well as fame and how it can be both positive and negative, and I really enjoyed unpacking it all. There were a few plot points that bothered me because it felt like we weren't treating them with the full range of emotions and impacts they should have, but overall, I feel like it was written by an intelligent person with intelligent thoughts about the subject matter discussed and the characters the book centered on. I also really enjoyed learning about the dynamics between certain characters, including Solene and her ex-husband, Solene and her daughter, Hayes and Oliver (though I'd have loved to get more information about this, but I also understand why we didn't), and the band in general. I found all of the characters to be well rounded and consistent, and they felt very real to me. I felt a whole range of emotions reading this book too. I really loved it, and though it isn't perfect, I enjoyed it very deeply. It gave me one of the best reading experiences I've had in a while. It also got me out of my reading slump, which was had been dragging on for almost four months now, so I am very grateful for that!

Content Warnings

kmsander4's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I had hoped I'd be able to look past the 1D fanfic-ness of this one but it reeks of the band and Harry. And while I'm a fan, it felt weird in this context. Weird enough that I kept calling Hayes Harry.

The storyline is fine but just fine. I won't run and tell anyone to read it, but I'm glad I finally dove in so I can watch the movie now and compare all of the changes they'll inevitably make.

Content Warnings

bookaholics_anonymous's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Content Warnings

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