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A review by emilyrainsford
Not Here to Make Friends by Jodi McAlister
slow-paced
3.0
It pains me deeply to say this because I have adored and raved about the first two books in this series, but surely the point of a review is my honest opinion? And honestly, I just didn't have a good time with this one.
I actually would have DNF'd at about 50-60% if it weren't for the fact that it's an arc and I have loyalty to this series from the first two.
I need to give big kudos, though, to the author for staying true to her characters. I feel like the temptation would have been there to soften them in order to make them likeable main characters in a romance story. But they have always been extremely morally grey characters and this book really does stay true to that and even leans into it, and I respect that a lot.
I just didn't *enjoy* it.
For starters, I very rarely enjoy a book that goes backwards and forwards in time, I find it boring and frustrating to have forward plot movement constantly interrupted by backstory. I realise that's a personal preference but this is my personal experience of the book, so that's how I felt.
Secondly, both Lily and Murray are pretty clearly swimming in the murky waters of emotional cheating when they both are in love with each other while marrying other people, and while I understand that fits the grey morality of their characters, it also makes it extremely hard for me to even care about them or their story, let alone root for them.
Their relationship seems to involve a lot of game playing and emotional manipulation, and while again, that's their characters - again, it's just not what I enjoy reading. They're both just pretty garbage tbh and I didn't care at all what happened to them because I didn't like them.
I do also think that I have now read enough of this particular season of Marry Me Juliet, and it started to feel slightly overdone in this book, but maybe that's just because I wasn't enjoying the story overall.
I do think this is mostly a case of "it's not you, it's me". I loved the first two books because they were really sweet and wholesome, and this one takes a different tack, one that's just not my jam. As I said, I appreciate that the author stayed true to her characters and the story was probably the right one for them. I just don't like them and I only dislike them more after this book.
I would absolutely still read more from this author and would love to see more books in a similar setting but perhaps to move on from this particular season - I'm kind of hoping the ending of this book hints at a possible Kumiko book!
I actually would have DNF'd at about 50-60% if it weren't for the fact that it's an arc and I have loyalty to this series from the first two.
I need to give big kudos, though, to the author for staying true to her characters. I feel like the temptation would have been there to soften them in order to make them likeable main characters in a romance story. But they have always been extremely morally grey characters and this book really does stay true to that and even leans into it, and I respect that a lot.
I just didn't *enjoy* it.
For starters, I very rarely enjoy a book that goes backwards and forwards in time, I find it boring and frustrating to have forward plot movement constantly interrupted by backstory. I realise that's a personal preference but this is my personal experience of the book, so that's how I felt.
Secondly, both Lily and Murray are pretty clearly swimming in the murky waters of emotional cheating when they both are in love with each other while marrying other people, and while I understand that fits the grey morality of their characters, it also makes it extremely hard for me to even care about them or their story, let alone root for them.
Their relationship seems to involve a lot of game playing and emotional manipulation, and while again, that's their characters - again, it's just not what I enjoy reading. They're both just pretty garbage tbh and I didn't care at all what happened to them because I didn't like them.
I do also think that I have now read enough of this particular season of Marry Me Juliet, and it started to feel slightly overdone in this book, but maybe that's just because I wasn't enjoying the story overall.
I do think this is mostly a case of "it's not you, it's me". I loved the first two books because they were really sweet and wholesome, and this one takes a different tack, one that's just not my jam. As I said, I appreciate that the author stayed true to her characters and the story was probably the right one for them. I just don't like them and I only dislike them more after this book.
I would absolutely still read more from this author and would love to see more books in a similar setting but perhaps to move on from this particular season - I'm kind of hoping the ending of this book hints at a possible Kumiko book!