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A review by mastersal
Remedial Rocket Science by Susannah Nix
3.0
This was a cute story of two (supposedly) opposite people who come together first as friends and then as lover / soulmates etc. The flavour of this contemporary novel, with the heroine being in IT and proudly so, is what set this book apart. There were passages of genuine IT speak which I didn’t understand. And not the cliched rom-com or TV comedy variety either which is refreshing.
The book is fairly short with no extraneous angst or random plot threads. This is the first time I’ve read this author but I was impressed at her control over the material. The book covers a period of time with some time skips. It allowed the characters to settle for me. The heroine moves across the country for a new job and there is mention of her finding friends and an alternative routine. In fact there were some nice scenes of just her and her friends which I really appreciated. While this did take away from the romance a bit I overall liked it as it made Melody a more rounded character.
The book does split into two distinct halves with the romance focused more on the latter half. The friends do disappear from the scene in this with the romance taking centre stage. I wish the book would have been just a little longer to avoid characters from disappearing. I got why it was done and in a romance novel I can even excuse it, but I do wonder if there was a better way of showing the developing romance.
The hero is pretty unobjectionable, I did like his aimlessness and his vulnerability. He is mostly a nice guy who struggles from not having a direction or any real desire. That part is not really resolved in the book as he just moves into a romance and I guess that is supposed to be his arc, but I wish we got to see him grow a little. Usually it is the women who suffer from this problem of not existing outside of their love interest so I guess, it was nice to see that in a male character. However, it does not make for a great compelling character when you’ve put down the book.
Some of these niggles are basically down to the length as, being under 300 pages, there isn't much space to show some of this other development. Since I get that, I rate this book a solid 3 stars having enjoyed my time reading it.
The book is fairly short with no extraneous angst or random plot threads. This is the first time I’ve read this author but I was impressed at her control over the material. The book covers a period of time with some time skips. It allowed the characters to settle for me. The heroine moves across the country for a new job and there is mention of her finding friends and an alternative routine. In fact there were some nice scenes of just her and her friends which I really appreciated. While this did take away from the romance a bit I overall liked it as it made Melody a more rounded character.
The book does split into two distinct halves with the romance focused more on the latter half. The friends do disappear from the scene in this with the romance taking centre stage. I wish the book would have been just a little longer to avoid characters from disappearing. I got why it was done and in a romance novel I can even excuse it, but I do wonder if there was a better way of showing the developing romance.
The hero is pretty unobjectionable, I did like his aimlessness and his vulnerability. He is mostly a nice guy who struggles from not having a direction or any real desire. That part is not really resolved in the book as he just moves into a romance and I guess that is supposed to be his arc, but I wish we got to see him grow a little. Usually it is the women who suffer from this problem of not existing outside of their love interest so I guess, it was nice to see that in a male character. However, it does not make for a great compelling character when you’ve put down the book.
Some of these niggles are basically down to the length as, being under 300 pages, there isn't much space to show some of this other development. Since I get that, I rate this book a solid 3 stars having enjoyed my time reading it.