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Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Terminal illness
Minor: Cancer, Dementia, Car accident, Sexual harassment
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Dementia, Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Infidelity, Sexual content, Car accident
emotional
lighthearted
medium-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
This was cute! I sorta had the plot pegged from the beginning but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like watching it unfold. I was a little surprised by the mom revelation, and I liked that there was not real push to turn Jasper into an asshole, just because Laura didn’t choose him .
Gerry and Sandy also deserve a shoutout…actually, all the island characters were great!
Gerry and Sandy also deserve a shoutout…actually, all the island characters were great!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
((For preface, this book takes place over the span of 48 hours))
Our main character was insufferable, she’s two timing people, leading multiple people on but then expecting them to help her at the drop of a hat? Also our first introduction to her is she is a journalist for a lifestyle magazine and she interviews couples on how they first met. She’s interviewing this couple and they met by the girlfriend’s house catching on fire (the boyfriend is a firefighter) and sadly the girlfriend’s cat dies in the fire. The author wrote the main character was “mimicking their sad body language”, is she not capable of having empathy? That right there should have tipped me off that no, she is not.
Her emotions and reactions come off as disingenuous and self-serving only.
The first like 30-40% of the book, she hasn’t even connected with the luggage guy yet and it’s just her getting hot and heavy with the taxi driver who is selflessly driving her around on this convoluted work journalism thing she’s doing. And she is completley taking advantage of him and leading him on all while she’s pining after this guy she hasn’t even met. She stalks the guy who has her luggage, finds out where he’s volunteered at and then breaks into his mom’s house! The taxi driver drives her to all of this and is aiding her in her unhinged plan.
Also, our MC goes to the airport to see if she can get any info on luggage guy but the airport wont give her any information (per their privacy policy). The airport literally asks her to give luggage guy’s luggage back to them so they can contact him (you know, like is the normal thing to do) but our main character is so obsessed that this guy is The One and that this is her chance to have a meet cute that she steals his luggage back from the airport so he can contact her and she can meet him directly. Like, I’m sorry, huh? 😳
As an aside, there were also so many random “feminist” moments that just took me completely out of the story. You can have your character be a feminist without her being an awful person towards men every 5 seconds.
There were many serious topics brought up in this book that the characters are dealing with (death of a parent, taking care of a parent with a disease, separated marriage) but the main character is so child-like, she’s literally almost 30 years old and thinks finding The One will feel like, and I quote “kablammo”, it just felt so out of place. I think the author was trying to make her book more realistic and relatable with these serious topics, which I appreciated being discussed, but the main character acted so unrealistically that it just felt so out of place having these serious things taking place along side her out-of-the-box reactions to everything.
I got to the point where she finally connects with the baggage guy, they exchange luggage and I skimmed the rest of the book.
I was super excited for this story as it sounded cute—but the way the author writes, the cringey dialogue, the main character’s awful choices and how she takes advantage of those around her, it’s a pass for me.
Our main character was insufferable, she’s two timing people, leading multiple people on but then expecting them to help her at the drop of a hat? Also our first introduction to her is she is a journalist for a lifestyle magazine and she interviews couples on how they first met. She’s interviewing this couple and they met by the girlfriend’s house catching on fire (the boyfriend is a firefighter) and sadly the girlfriend’s cat dies in the fire. The author wrote the main character was “mimicking their sad body language”, is she not capable of having empathy? That right there should have tipped me off that no, she is not.
Her emotions and reactions come off as disingenuous and self-serving only.
The first like 30-40% of the book, she hasn’t even connected with the luggage guy yet and it’s just her getting hot and heavy with the taxi driver who is selflessly driving her around on this convoluted work journalism thing she’s doing. And she is completley taking advantage of him and leading him on all while she’s pining after this guy she hasn’t even met. She stalks the guy who has her luggage, finds out where he’s volunteered at and then breaks into his mom’s house! The taxi driver drives her to all of this and is aiding her in her unhinged plan.
Also, our MC goes to the airport to see if she can get any info on luggage guy but the airport wont give her any information (per their privacy policy). The airport literally asks her to give luggage guy’s luggage back to them so they can contact him (you know, like is the normal thing to do) but our main character is so obsessed that this guy is The One and that this is her chance to have a meet cute that she steals his luggage back from the airport so he can contact her and she can meet him directly. Like, I’m sorry, huh? 😳
As an aside, there were also so many random “feminist” moments that just took me completely out of the story. You can have your character be a feminist without her being an awful person towards men every 5 seconds.
There were many serious topics brought up in this book that the characters are dealing with (death of a parent, taking care of a parent with a disease, separated marriage) but the main character is so child-like, she’s literally almost 30 years old and thinks finding The One will feel like, and I quote “kablammo”, it just felt so out of place. I think the author was trying to make her book more realistic and relatable with these serious topics, which I appreciated being discussed, but the main character acted so unrealistically that it just felt so out of place having these serious things taking place along side her out-of-the-box reactions to everything.
I got to the point where she finally connects with the baggage guy, they exchange luggage and I skimmed the rest of the book.
I was super excited for this story as it sounded cute—but the way the author writes, the cringey dialogue, the main character’s awful choices and how she takes advantage of those around her, it’s a pass for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-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
Content Warnings
Minor: Cancer, Dementia, Death of parent
emotional
fast-paced
The main character was so delusional for her age and it was so hard to suspend disbelief that she was actually that. naive. She was naive from the very start and it didn’t get better.
Dee is a horrible friend - no one wants a friend that wants you to stay with someone you don’t love just so you can be in a relationship.
Also - who, WHO in their right mind digs threw someone else’s suitcase? It’s the germs and who knows what else for me 🥴
Jasper and Suki were horrible characters.
Ted, Gerry, Sandy, and Sandy’s husband were the only characters I really liked.
I think this quote is where the book (pg 106) really started to go downhill for me,
“Do you think it’s possible to be a romantic and also a feminist?”
It’s 2021, almost 2022 and stuff like this is still being said in romance books?
Also the eye roll I gave the epilogue 🙄
Dee is a horrible friend - no one wants a friend that wants you to stay with someone you don’t love just so you can be in a relationship.
Also - who, WHO in their right mind digs threw someone else’s suitcase? It’s the germs and who knows what else for me 🥴
Jasper and Suki were horrible characters.
Ted, Gerry, Sandy, and Sandy’s husband were the only characters I really liked.
I think this quote is where the book (pg 106) really started to go downhill for me,
“Do you think it’s possible to be a romantic and also a feminist?”
It’s 2021, almost 2022 and stuff like this is still being said in romance books?
Also the eye roll I gave the epilogue 🙄
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness
Moderate: Cancer, Grief, Car accident, Pregnancy
Minor: Death of parent