A review by emmabeckman
Better Luck Next Time by Julia Claiborne Johnson

2.0

My overall sentiment about this book is: disappointing. I had very high hopes. Look at that fun cover! But it did not live up to my expectations. I should have realized it was told from the man's perspective, so that's my error, but I would have MUCH rather have read from the perspective of a woman at the ranch. I didn't think the plot or the romance were compelling, I didn't have strong feelings about any characters (the best among them, Nina and Sam, were cast aside for boring Ward and Emily, in my opinion), sometimes it felt like the writing couldn't remember what decade the story was told in. I HATED the way the story was told in this frame of an interview with Ward (yes, I understand why it was done. No, this is not the first time I haven't enjoyed that storytelling method: see The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, The Green Mile). I think that's a trope that works far better on screen than in writing.

In sum, I was bored. I kept reading because I hoped it would get better but it really didn't. Nothing happens and anything that does happen was predictable (like, you can literally see things coming from a mile away. There are no subtle hints). No one has any chemistry. Sorry, fam. (But note, it didn't do anything offensive [other than sort of using someone's sexuality as a plot twist, but a plot twist that you probably saw coming from a mile away] I'm still giving it two stars rather than one.)