A review by xabbeylongx
You, With a View by Jessica Joyce

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Spoilers Ahead: 
I was really intrigued by this book at first. I love a good enemies to lovers book, and when it’s done well, I love it so much. I will say though, I’m not sure where I stand with regards to this book. Although it wasn’t bad, I wouldn’t necessarily say it was one of my favourite reads of this year. 
We follow Noelle as she mourns the loss of her grandmother, whom she was very close to. She loses her job, and finds that the spark has entirely disappeared from her life. She finds some love letters written from a secret admirer to her grandmother, and some photos, and this is a story she’s never heard about before! Considering Noelle thought they told each other everything, she is intrigued, and makes a TikTok asking if anyone has seen the man in the photos. She’s shocked when someone replies, and they agree to meet up. 
She’s even more shocked when she gets to the café and realises that Theo, her high-school nemesis, is the grandson of the guy who dated her grandmother. They get to talking, and she says she wants to hear more about their relationship, as she wants to feel a little closer to her, and he agrees to show her all the love letters that she sent him. They had to keep their relationship hidden, due to the fact her family didn’t approve of him, and, eventually, they had to break up. They had separate families, but she’s still sad about this. And when Paul brings out a map full of places that her grandmother and Paul had planned to visit on their honeymoon, she is sparked with an idea. 
She proposes the idea to Paul, who’s onboard, and Theo also decides to come along. And that’s how they end up going on a two week vacation, travelling to the places her grandmother wanted to visit. Along the way, Noelle picks up a camera and practices her photography skills – finally! – which she’s had no motivation for since her grandmother passed. She also shares a few moments with Theo, in which they compete against each other, each one trying to be better than the other, until they both realise they have this attraction between the pair of them, although they make a rule to not go past anything more than kissing (it doesn’t happen, you know the drill). What with Noelle hiding the fact she’s lost her job, and Theo hiding just about everything that makes him a normal person, they get annoyed at each other when they realise how much they’re lying to one another. 
Soon it comes to the end of the trip. Noelle has been documenting the trip on her TikTok, and she’s had a few people reach out to her to talk about her photographing events for them, and she knows that that is what she wants to do. She feels closer to her grandmother than ever before, and she plans to stay in contact with Paul. She knows she wants to be with Theo, but he is not emotionally capable of letting her in. They go to see each other though, and eventually decide they want to be together, and everyone lives happily ever after. Happy days! 
One of the biggest issues I had with this book was that there the conflict was hardly there. By the time the book had ended, I was expecting there to have been a massive fallout, but there was just a minor miscommunication, and I was left thinking ‘is that it?’ It felt like there was this massive build-up, only for it to fizzle out. The best way I can describe it is when you’re expecting a firework to make a massive noise, and to have lots of light and bright colours, and it ends up with only a little pop, and a little spark. That’s how this book felt for me by the end of it. Additionally, the trope of losing a job often feels a bit repetitive, and I did think it was quite repetitive in this case. I don’t know, maybe I’ve been reading too many books like that recently, but it just felt a bit tired. They always lose their job, go on holiday, find their soulmate and then figure out what they really want to do. Also, the dramatic ‘wanting to rip each other’s clothes off’ is also a bit boring. 
I also didn’t really understand why they couldn’t be together? There wasn’t really a valid reason, it just felt like they were creating problems that either didn’t really exist, or didn’t really seem important, especially as they had been pining after each other for so long – a little unrealistic if you ask me, as who would wait that long for someone who you thought didn’t even like you that much? I get what they were going for, but it kind of just made a mockery of their relationship, in my opinion, and it made their relationship seem a bit adolescent, and it felt a bit weird. I’ll refer to my previous point of their relationship being mostly physical – it is portrayed to me that way at least – and it makes for a very superficial relationship. It just felt like there was not a lot of chemistry between the two, and the only thing they had in common was that they were both attracted to each other. It wasn’t a very convincing relationship at times. I thought Paul’s love story was much more convincing, and I was more interested in reading that than anything else. 
As for the characters themselves, I can’t say I have too much feeling for Noelle. I think she’s a bit of a boring character, a little whiny at times, and Theo just seems to be a classic, moody guy that doesn’t open up, pretty much just like every other guy in a generic enemies-to-lovers. I preferred reading about Noelle’s brother and his girlfriend, I thought they were so cute, and they definitely needed more input. Another book devoted to them, maybe? 
I will say though, as much as this book didn’t live up to my expectations as much as I had hoped, I absolutely adore the proposal in the epilogue – I thought it was very sweet, and very nicely done! 
All in all, I just found Noelle’s and Paul’s relationship very weird. Especially after they met each other just once, and they were already smitten with each other? The time frame just didn’t work for me, it all felt a bit too forced and a bit too perfect, dare I say it, kind of like a “TikTok book” (you guys know the ones) and it just really wasn’t capturing me in at all, unfortunately. Also, I forgot to mention it, but Noelle must be a little bit silly to go and meet with this random guy, that she’s never met before, alone. That’s the one rule of womanhood, don’t meet with strange men alone! 
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