Reviews with content warning for Bullying - The Idea of You

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

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

jerrysaywhaaa's review against another edition

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emotional funny slow-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

5.0

This book surprised me, I went into thinking it would be trashy fan fiction about Harry Styles and One Direction. It’s actually a commentary on double standards with how society treats men vs. women as they age; the weird parasocial relationships people form with celebrities; and how society tends to view art girls like as lesser. It helped reading it after the movie came out (even though it makes the story way more palatable for general audiences) and picturing the main characters as Anne Hathaway & Nicholas Galitzine. Random final thought: Hayes is definitely into pegging

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

bookscatcoffee's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

2.0

Not a fan of this book. I found the female MC to be needy and conflicted. And the way she let men dictate her life, I could not accept that, particularly since it seemed to be at odds with her character. I enjoyed the descriptions of the art, but the rest, I could have definitely left behind. 2 stars

Contemporary fiction

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just_klaudia's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

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

4.5

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

tehstorm's review

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medium-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? Yes

2.0

I am so annoyed at this book. Mostly at Solène.

At the beginning, I was mostly annoyed at how often she was talking about their age gap. He seemed pretty mature for a 20 year old, she was the one with an issue with it for seemingly no reason. But then through the whole book she was just determined to never actually make the relationship work. Between always griping about the age gap, and then being weird about Hayes being in a boy band. And refusing to tell her daughter she was dating Hayes until way too late and then broke her daughter's heart. She was just like "la di da no one will find me.” And then is all shocked when people find her or torture her daughter about her relationship or when photographers take photos of them out on a boat. She's an incredibly smart person but yet so stupid. If she had actually committed to the relationship and thought through what it would mean in the beginning she would have been able to properly plan for what was (predictably) coming and it might not have hit as hard or destroyed her as much. It still would have been very hard- public scrutiny, paparazzi, and toxic parasocial relationships are horrible. But things like security cameras at home, security personnel, no sex acts on a boat when there's another boat nearby... all would have helped prevent a lot of heartache. Hayes had enough money to give them a lot more protection, if you'd just accept his help and acknowledge that you're in a relationship with him. It also would have helped if both of them had actually said something about the relationship to the world instead of letting it fester. He could have told his fans to leave her and Isabelle alone. And Solène had an opportunity to come out and to be a strong feminist about it. Old men date young women all the time and no one cares. Make a statement and be like "ya, i'm awesome. i'm getting what i want. i'm successful. Women can be 40 and still desirable.” Work with it! I feel like she went through no growth whatsoever and refused to take her life into her own hands. Also, so many comments about his youthful skin 🤢 Some things Hayes did crossed some lines, but not to an unforgivable point. And he was trying and putting in effort and growing.

Content Warnings

chelle22's review

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emotional funny hopeful sad

5.0

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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

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