Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - A Not So Meet Cute

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

A Not So Meet Cute by Meghan Quinn

5 reviews

simplyammee's review against another edition

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? Yes

1.0

This book is shit and I'm suprised it has as many good reviews as it does. Not only is Huxley a piece of shit abuser -his forcing Lottie to listen through actually, physically forcing her is ABUSE. Not kinky, not him being a Dom (this isn't some kink play), it's literally abuse.

The sex scenes are meh. The writing isn't great either. I mean, who publishes a book with "-raises hand- that's me" or "*light bulb*" actually written into it. There are sentences I've had to reread multiple times and not quite know what the author meant. The constant summaries of scenes we just experienced was annoying, especially with the amount of off-page scenes that happen that we get 2 sentences for.

Both characters suck, both are boring, and frankly act like children a lot. This reads as YA fanfic. I finished at 94% because after Huxley thinking that LITERALLY FORCING LOTTIE TO LISTEN was okay and that she was okay with it... obviously the author romanticized abuse and I'm not okay with that. Wish I didn't spend money on this book.

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maayaner29's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

1.0

The female mc is really cringe, she’s over-dramatic and she’s the type of character who always says weird and irrelevant stuff in the middle of a conversation because she’s QuIrKy, she says a ton of stuff that one isn’t supposed to say out loud in front of other people, if you know what I mean. Overall she’s just very annoying, and she’s not realistic at all, how am I supposed to get attached to a character if they don’t feel like a real person but rather just a bunch of exaggerated stereotypes? She really is the stereotypical “annoying female”. Same thing for him, in the beginning of the book he’s super rude to her, doesn’t respect her at all, doesn’t care about her, and really mean to her. How am I supposed to get attached to a character that is such an asshole? I mean, I like books with the grumpy sunshine trope, and when the guy is a bit “rude” at the beginning, but when he is that rude, and that mean to the female mc, there’s only so much he can redeem himself.

The mom is so cringe, she’s always talking about how she wants Lottie to find her own place so that she and her boyfriend can walk around naked in the house. Are there really parents out there who talk like that to their kids??? Even if that kid is 28, which kind of parent talks like that?? I hate when authors make the mc’s mom be such a cringe character, and sadly it happens a lot. At some point she literally sends a picture of her and her boyfriend naked (from the neck up, but that doesn’t excuse her action) to her daughter to show her how much they love the fact that she finally left their house. That is so messed up and disgusting. The fact that the author wrote that and then was like, yep, that’s good, I like what I wrote, is kind of concerning if you ask me. At least she doesn’t appear much in the book.

Their relationship is very toxic, they absolutely hate each other in the beginning but at the same time they’re both always thinking about how the other person is so hot and attractive and turns them on. He also does *dirty* things to her and she likes it but she still despises him, not the best way to have a healthy relationship 🥴.

The way he acted towards her when he thought that she told Ellie about their fake engagement was extremely toxic, he didn’t believe her at all and was already convinced that she was the one who told everything before she even had a chance to speak. And then he proceeded to say that he accused her because he was shocked, it doesn’t excuse what he did at all. And when he invited her to dinner to apologise, omg that was hella toxic, she was angry at him so he just pushed her against the wall and got all possessive because she was “stubborn” while he got angry at her and forced her to listen by holding her and not letting her out of his grasp, I don’t understand how can this author be okay with this, just when I thought that he finally changed he just became even worse than he was before. No matter how much he apologises and promises that he’s going to change, at the end of the day, the next time something bad happens to them he’s going to blame her again, and who knows how bad it’s going to be the next time? I wouldn’t be surprised if one day he starts being violent towards her, he already kind of threatens her, at some point during his “apology” he says “Do I need to bend you over this table just so you knock it off…Then hear me out and I won’t be forced to take extreme measures.”

Is anyone actually okay with this? She should just run as far away from him as possible.

Basically they have no chemistry and the only reason they end up together is because they’re both attractive people, their relationship is shallow and toxic.

Also the scene where they talk about sexual stuff in the car while the driver literally hears EVERYTHING made me super uncomfortable, I had major second hand embarrassment. But the worst was the scene right after at the “pregnancy class”,

that was the worst reading experience of my life 😂 I wanted to die with them, I felt really bad for them.

Oh god, Dave and Ellie made me so uncomfortable throughout the whole book, ugh 😩, they were waaay too comfortable with their body in front of other people. Can’t this author write normal characters that don’t give you second hand embarrassment?

I was absolutely shocked when there is a scene

where they casually talk about the fact that she had sex with him in the middle of the night while he was fucking SLEEPING, I don’t care that they are dating and they have a ton of sex, that’s just wrong, and in the book it’s written as something that’s super hot and it’s great, no it’s not, she literally took advantage of him while he was sleeping.

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rai_ishardtoplease's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.25

“I should be wondering how I could fall in love with someone who paid people to lie for him. Who wrote contracts to cover up his barefaced fiction, because his business meant everything to him. There’s something very wrong with me that I could look past that. That was our foundation.”

This feels like it was written by someone who once would’ve voted for Trump but has since been reformed… mostly. Whether or not that’s actually true, I feel like it’s a red flag that reading this gave that impression.

I don’t even know what to say. I’m not sure I’ve ever met a book that managed to do so much right and so much wrong, simultaneously. I could go from highlighting quotes I liked to quotes I loathed to quotes that made me lol… all on one page.

It was a very volatile experience.

But it was also an educational experience. It taught me something about myself:

I don’t think I like enemies to lovers.

Crowd: *Gasp* What? Who even are you? You call yourself a bibliophile?

Yeah, I know. I was also very shocked, but unfortunately, it’s a well substantiated hypothesis.

I’m just too petty for it, I’m afraid. I hold grudges like a feral alley cat with a raw chicken thigh. It takes nothing short of a miracle to get back in my good graces after someone’s secured themselves a spot on my blacklist. And, as a neurodivergent who gets delusionally invested in the lives of strangers and made-up people, this propensity of mine extends to fictional characters.

Characters like Huxley, who—despite being the vision of boyfriend excellence once he confronted his feelings—didn’t repent enough for his maidenless behavior to satisfy me.

Characters like Lottie, who—despite being the main reason this book even remotely worked—thought “I joked about our agreement replicating that of Pretty Woman, me being the less whore-y version of Vivian” was an acceptable thing to say.

And DEFINITELY characters like Kelsey, who—despite sacrificing nothing for the opportunities Lottie secured her—still had the gall to look her sister in the eye and say (more or less)
Take the high road, Lottie. He may treat you like dirt, but he’s “helping us out.”

No, Kelsey. He’s not helping you out. He’s paying for Lottie’s services and, last I heard, unconditional respect wasn’t in the goddamn contract.

You’re hardly better than Angela, you mf poser.

See? Told you I was petty.

Anyway.

If you read this, read it for the shenanigans and keep your expectations low.

Duces.

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ahyde712's review against another edition

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Absolute trash. The man is a narcissist and her entire family is gaslighting her. Not a redeeming trope in the book, I’m convinced it was written by an incel with a vendetta against women. 😤

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mamawantsbooks's review against another edition

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funny fast-paced

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

3.75

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