A review by legalplanner
The Right Wrong Number by Katie Warren

emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This debut novel from Katie Warren was a quick read, I literally read this in a day. Now you might wonder if I liked it and it was a quick read how'd it end up at a 3.5.

There were a few things/tropes that I found a bit hard to connect with in this:
  • Only for you
  • Mistaken Identity
  • Toxic Masculinity
  • Miscommunication
Some things I did like
  • Talking about how grief isn't linear
  • Friends supporting you in times of need. 
  • Moving on isn't replacement

The pros:
I'm a firm believer in grief not being linear and Jules was struggling and trying to find where he fit again in the world. I think starting the novel with tragedy was something that could have made the tone of the book change drastically, but instead it made it easier to process Jules grief. Jules BFF is extremely supportive and I loved that. We were able to see a no nonsense and supportive character on the grief journey with Jules and that was great to see that he wasn't alone. Finally, moving on isn't replacing your loved one and I think Warren did a great job of showing that these feelings are valid. I really felt for Jules on his journey.

The Cons:
The I'm only gay for you trope just isn't a type of thing that vibes for me. I'm aware there are many different types of people in various degrees of sexuality, however this just felt very unrealistic and kind of demeaning to the LGBTQIA community. I say this because it would have been a great moment to expand on how Liam had that mental connection with Jules and that truly heightened the attraction to him. Which leads me to the toxic masculinity. Liam's friend is a grade a Frat boy that just kind of was frustrating and felt one dimensional to me. The Mistaken Identity while not a big deal just kind of felt ick to me even though I get why it was a big deal. Finally, the miscommunication trope between the two because they would rather tell others than each other their problems was really hard to get over because they would have rather not talked about their issues sometimes. Liam was super understanding of Jules grief but still didn't try to explain his sexuality situation to him or his co-worker's toxicity.

Over all I did enjoy this book but those few cons were what brought me out of the book a bit.
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