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A review by thebookishdogmom
Hard Feelings by K.M. Galvin
3.0
Glory and Killian were childhood best friends until Glory's mom and Killian's dad has an affair and ran away together, causing a huge scandal in their small town. With Killian's family basically running the town, he was seen as a victim, whereas Glory and her father were ostracized from the community. On top of that, Killian turned his anger on Glory for years, making high school a less than pleasant experience.
At the start of their senior year, Killian realizes that he doesn't want to hate Glory anymore. He misses his best friend, and is ready to make amends. He makes it know to everyone how he feels, he gives Glory his journal so she can understand his feelings over the years, and they slowly rebuild their friendship. And their friendship develops into a relationship, which is how they were always meant to be together.
The concept of the plot was really good. But I felt it could have been executed better. When K handed over his journal to G, it really seemed like the story of them finding their way back to one another through reading his journals was how it would go. That would have been a great way to develop the story. But, it fell flat. G would read an entry or two, and then misplace the journal or forget about it for months at a time. Like… the guy handed you his deepest secrets on a silver platter and you just forget about it like a post-it? I really think that was a missed opportunity.
I also felt like Glory allowed the people who hurt her back into her life too easily. I expected more groveling from Killian before she forgave him. And we could have used a lot more focus on Glory repairing her relationship with her mother. It almost felt like we should have had only one relationship be the focus of the story, rather than Killian AND her mother… I don’t think we had the right amount of time available to really deep dive and make the reparation to both of those relationships.
I do think this was a very sweet, coming of age love story. I did see the strong bond that Glory and Killian had with one another, and they had several sweet and passionate moments. I just wanted a little more depth to the characters and the plot. But overall a solid read!
I received an advanced copy from Grey's Promotions of this e-book, but the review is my own.
Tags: childhood friends to enemies to lovers, second chance, new adult
Spice: 2 peppers
First person/single POV
At the start of their senior year, Killian realizes that he doesn't want to hate Glory anymore. He misses his best friend, and is ready to make amends. He makes it know to everyone how he feels, he gives Glory his journal so she can understand his feelings over the years, and they slowly rebuild their friendship. And their friendship develops into a relationship, which is how they were always meant to be together.
The concept of the plot was really good. But I felt it could have been executed better. When K handed over his journal to G, it really seemed like the story of them finding their way back to one another through reading his journals was how it would go. That would have been a great way to develop the story. But, it fell flat. G would read an entry or two, and then misplace the journal or forget about it for months at a time. Like… the guy handed you his deepest secrets on a silver platter and you just forget about it like a post-it? I really think that was a missed opportunity.
I also felt like Glory allowed the people who hurt her back into her life too easily. I expected more groveling from Killian before she forgave him. And we could have used a lot more focus on Glory repairing her relationship with her mother. It almost felt like we should have had only one relationship be the focus of the story, rather than Killian AND her mother… I don’t think we had the right amount of time available to really deep dive and make the reparation to both of those relationships.
I do think this was a very sweet, coming of age love story. I did see the strong bond that Glory and Killian had with one another, and they had several sweet and passionate moments. I just wanted a little more depth to the characters and the plot. But overall a solid read!
I received an advanced copy from Grey's Promotions of this e-book, but the review is my own.
Tags: childhood friends to enemies to lovers, second chance, new adult
Spice: 2 peppers
First person/single POV