protestmyboredom's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I like the premise of the book more than the actual book but it was okay. I liked the diversity of characters and felt like the main character’s viewpoint was well-written and relatable. I feel like his friend/love interest wasn’t as developed and we only saw a surface image of them.
belindao's review against another edition
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
hobbitqueen's review
I didn't like the deception part, which sometimes works for but this time just didn't for some reason
breacommelafromage's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
vodzak's review against another edition
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.25
1. "Ahhh", with at least three "h"s, but no more than seven "h"s. Just out there in external dialogue, in internal dialogue, at the end of sentences. Drove me up the wall everytime I had to see it, which was often enough that it started pissing me off.
The writing style was also pretty bad. It felt like the main character wasn't 26, or even any semblance of an adult. Constant running inner dialogue that came across as extremely vapid: there's nothing of any actual substance. This added to my general dislike of the main character (see point 3 for more).
2. What was the point of the whole "driving to Pittsburgh because [love interest]'s brother is in the hospital" scene? Character development? Family dynamics? Something about how the main character would do anything for him or whatever? It felt pointless, and didn't serve anything to the characters.
Thinking about it, what was the point of the love interest's brother at all? What was the point of his character? What was the point of meeting the love interest's mom? To prove that the love interest's family life isn't perfect like the main character's, even though family has little to do with whatever the hell else is happening in the book? Even though the love interest themselves said that their family life isn't perfect?
3. I have never hated a character more. Tied with Vin, from Mistborn and the general cast of Red, White, and Royal Blue. The main character of this book was fucking awful. Self absorbed, unable to communicate with anyone at a base level, clueless about life to the point of inspiring anger within me. Everything is about this guy. He can do no wrong. "My parents are great, I lucked into this job, this book I didn't really want to publish is now a best seller that everyone loves."
The thing that pissed me off most is that he's not a good friend to any of the people in his life, in any sense of the word. "I know you and your boyfriend broke up, but I can only think of how that means you're available now, and I'm thinking of bringing this up." Are you serious? Get over yourself.
Even with a friend of the main character saying, "What you did was not a grand romantic gesture and was humiliating to [love interest]", the main character's response boiled down to: "Okay, but I don't get why [love interest] isn't talking to me, it's been a while, how much more time do they need?"
Are you shitting me? Who wrote this? I'm losing my mind.
I get that it's supposed to be a "he's helpless, it's so cute" kinda thing, but, at the end of this book, I was getting to the point of rage just reading his dialogue, inner and outer. I was tempted to just stop reading it, but I was already halfway done and just powered through it out of spite.
4. Thinking about it, why does the main character even love the love interest? One kiss in college and that's it? How did he get to this point? There's no explanation, no backstory. Guy's saying he loves them, and I can only take his word for it. It seems like he's in love with the idea of the love interest more than anything else.
Honestly, the same applies vice versa: It doesn't even seem like the love interest is into the main character, and I don't know how it got to be like this. The interactions between the two come across as the love interest just not caring for the main character enough to be romantically interested in him.
(0.25 out of 5, because while I didn't like this book at all, it's similar to Red, White, and Royal Blue, in that it's been a lot of fun to rant about it in this review and wonder what questionable editor read this book and thought, "This is okay to publish for people to read.")
The writing style was also pretty bad. It felt like the main character wasn't 26, or even any semblance of an adult. Constant running inner dialogue that came across as extremely vapid: there's nothing of any actual substance. This added to my general dislike of the main character (see point 3 for more).
2. What was the point of the whole "driving to Pittsburgh because [love interest]'s brother is in the hospital" scene? Character development? Family dynamics? Something about how the main character would do anything for him or whatever? It felt pointless, and didn't serve anything to the characters.
Thinking about it, what was the point of the love interest's brother at all? What was the point of his character? What was the point of meeting the love interest's mom? To prove that the love interest's family life isn't perfect like the main character's, even though family has little to do with whatever the hell else is happening in the book? Even though the love interest themselves said that their family life isn't perfect?
3. I have never hated a character more. Tied with Vin, from Mistborn and the general cast of Red, White, and Royal Blue. The main character of this book was fucking awful. Self absorbed, unable to communicate with anyone at a base level, clueless about life to the point of inspiring anger within me. Everything is about this guy. He can do no wrong. "My parents are great, I lucked into this job, this book I didn't really want to publish is now a best seller that everyone loves."
The thing that pissed me off most is that he's not a good friend to any of the people in his life, in any sense of the word. "I know you and your boyfriend broke up, but I can only think of how that means you're available now, and I'm thinking of bringing this up." Are you serious? Get over yourself.
Even with a friend of the main character saying, "What you did was not a grand romantic gesture and was humiliating to [love interest]", the main character's response boiled down to: "Okay, but I don't get why [love interest] isn't talking to me, it's been a while, how much more time do they need?"
Are you shitting me? Who wrote this? I'm losing my mind.
I get that it's supposed to be a "he's helpless, it's so cute" kinda thing, but, at the end of this book, I was getting to the point of rage just reading his dialogue, inner and outer. I was tempted to just stop reading it, but I was already halfway done and just powered through it out of spite.
4. Thinking about it, why does the main character even love the love interest? One kiss in college and that's it? How did he get to this point? There's no explanation, no backstory. Guy's saying he loves them, and I can only take his word for it. It seems like he's in love with the idea of the love interest more than anything else.
Honestly, the same applies vice versa: It doesn't even seem like the love interest is into the main character, and I don't know how it got to be like this. The interactions between the two come across as the love interest just not caring for the main character enough to be romantically interested in him.
(0.25 out of 5, because while I didn't like this book at all, it's similar to Red, White, and Royal Blue, in that it's been a lot of fun to rant about it in this review and wonder what questionable editor read this book and thought, "This is okay to publish for people to read.")
ellenkennedy's review
DNF. Cannot get past the extremely immature narration; feels like I'm reading a 13-year-old's blog entry. Soooo not my cup of tea.
anaxandria's review against another edition
3.5
Probably would not have finished if I’d had to physically read the book, but I liked the audiobook narration with the first person POV
jakeftsgerald's review
2.0
I think this is one of those 'it's not you, it's me' type of situations. Maybe I'm not the right target audience for this book. I don't know. I read it fairly quickly but, representation aside, I honestly can't remember a single thing I like about it, which is a shame.
One thing I can tell you is that I'm still trying to figure out why PK has people like Art and Wade in his life, when they constantly belittle him. They were awful towards PK from the beginning, with Art stating that they only sought PK's help because he was the only one who had a spare bedroom and not because he was supposedly their best friend. And with both Art and Wade stating multiple times that they didn't think PK had any speck of emotional intelligence. It doesn't matter if you say something offensive followed or preceded by "no offense", because it's still offensive.
Although I enjoyed Art's representation, I can't name any other thing I liked about them. I felt like they were always trying to one-up PK and it got boring and annoying after a few chapters. They acted like they were doing PK a favor, when it was the other way around. And don't get me started on Wade. What on Earth was going on with him being a trophy son? Yikes. The only interesting thing about him was his partner.
Reading from PK's perspective was tiring. I get what the author was trying to do but there was so much going on in his head that I ended up skipping a few descriptive paragraphs every once in a while and I could still follow the story pretty well. Not to mention that some of the expressions seemed like they were taken from a Tik Tok video. We had too much without having much at all. I wish Kris Ripper would replace some of that verbiage with signs that PK can write a book about romance because, contrary to what Art and Wade say, he actually has emotional intelligence! After reading the whole book even I am questioning the veracity of that. I also felt like their conversation where they laid it out on the table was lacking emotional depth. And what about the back and forth between being sure you're in love with your best friend but still question it by the last chapters?
I have to say, though, that I was really pleased with PK's coworker, Maggie, and his parents. They were very supportive throughout the whole story, the kind of people he should surround himself with more often.
I received this e-Arc in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Carina Press & Carina Adores (Harlequin) and Netgalley!
One thing I can tell you is that I'm still trying to figure out why PK has people like Art and Wade in his life, when they constantly belittle him. They were awful towards PK from the beginning, with Art stating that they only sought PK's help because he was the only one who had a spare bedroom and not because he was supposedly their best friend. And with both Art and Wade stating multiple times that they didn't think PK had any speck of emotional intelligence. It doesn't matter if you say something offensive followed or preceded by "no offense", because it's still offensive.
Although I enjoyed Art's representation, I can't name any other thing I liked about them. I felt like they were always trying to one-up PK and it got boring and annoying after a few chapters. They acted like they were doing PK a favor, when it was the other way around. And don't get me started on Wade. What on Earth was going on with him being a trophy son? Yikes. The only interesting thing about him was his partner.
Reading from PK's perspective was tiring. I get what the author was trying to do but there was so much going on in his head that I ended up skipping a few descriptive paragraphs every once in a while and I could still follow the story pretty well. Not to mention that some of the expressions seemed like they were taken from a Tik Tok video. We had too much without having much at all. I wish Kris Ripper would replace some of that verbiage with signs that PK can write a book about romance because, contrary to what Art and Wade say, he actually has emotional intelligence! After reading the whole book even I am questioning the veracity of that. I also felt like their conversation where they laid it out on the table was lacking emotional depth. And what about the back and forth between being sure you're in love with your best friend but still question it by the last chapters?
I have to say, though, that I was really pleased with PK's coworker, Maggie, and his parents. They were very supportive throughout the whole story, the kind of people he should surround himself with more often.
I received this e-Arc in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Carina Press & Carina Adores (Harlequin) and Netgalley!
tacoshark's review against another edition
The tone annoyed the crap out of me and the story just wasn’t going anywhere.