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elmtreebooks's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
If you read it lightly and don’t think too much about it, it’s a compelling and romantic love story.
But it did not in anyway convince me that this age gap was ok or not horribly alarming the entire time. The male love interest was only appealing because he absolutely never acted like a 20 year old through out the entirety of the book — he was emotionally mature, committed, thoughtful, experienced, etc etc etc. Nothing about the choices he made or the way he acted cued “20”, so the idea of this somehow being a non-creepy age gap romance only worked because he was 20 only in statement, not in characterization.
Eh. Perhaps my expectations were too high due to the glowing reviews, but it was good, not great, and I doubt it will leave a lasting impact. There was too much about both characters that were unignorable red flags for me to really root for them. It was well written and very readable though.
One major grief I had with the book:
The fact that our heroine and hero explicitly and knowingly help to cover up the rape of a minor — a fellow STUDENT of the heroine’s daughter’s school — and it is acknowledged that this happens all the time and she thinks just scolding the other boys is somehow… enough? Horrific. Grotesque. Lost any respect or empathy I could have for this mother, though to be fair there wasn’t a lot left for her at that point anyway. She puts the raped abandoned child in a goddamn car service and washes her hands of it. Doesn’t tell the girls parents. The police. Doesn’t make sure the traumatized child put in the car with another strange man mere hours after her rape made it home ok. Just is like “yikes” and moves on. /spoiler>
But it did not in anyway convince me that this age gap was ok or not horribly alarming the entire time. The male love interest was only appealing because he absolutely never acted like a 20 year old through out the entirety of the book — he was emotionally mature, committed, thoughtful, experienced, etc etc etc. Nothing about the choices he made or the way he acted cued “20”, so the idea of this somehow being a non-creepy age gap romance only worked because he was 20 only in statement, not in characterization.
Eh. Perhaps my expectations were too high due to the glowing reviews, but it was good, not great, and I doubt it will leave a lasting impact. There was too much about both characters that were unignorable red flags for me to really root for them. It was well written and very readable though.
One major grief I had with the book:
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Rape