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A review by nitzanschwarz
Rocket Science by K.M. Neuhold
lighthearted
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
3.5
78 | C+ | 3.5 ★ | More than Satisfactory
This was fun, but I've definitely read better (and recently lol).
This book falls under two romantic tropes - age gap and "best friend's brother." Elijah is a socially awkward PhD student who is living far away from his best friend for the first time in around 13 years. Said best friend recruits his older brother, Pax, who is 8 years their senior, to make sure Elijah is doing okay. Of course, that request did not include Pax sleeping with the nerdy Elijah, but hey... these things happen, right? Especially when Pax has been Elijah's forever crush.
Overall, these two were cute. Am I 100% bought into their romance? Not really, mostly because I don't think we got enough of them just being together and learning about each other in a non-physical capacity. Once intimacy started playing a role, it felt like all we got to see of them. But yes, they were cute and mostly angst-free.
That being said, quite a few things bothered me about this novel. Some are rather nitpicky, while others are a bit more substantial, but hey--it's my personal opinion, so I can be as nitpicky as I want!
Among the more substantial things is my complicated feelings toward Pax. While I mostly enjoyed him, there were just some things that stopped me from loving him. First, Neuhold chose to add Pax being acheater into the plot. Like, I don't think it was necessary, and it definitely made me like him less, espeically since it ended up being chalked up to him having been "immature." And idk, for me, once a cheater always a cheater , so I would've wanted a bit more into what is actually different in this relationship compared to the earlier ones to reassure me more than Elijah.
Furthermore,his inner "woe is me, I fell in love with a guy, but I am not boyfriend material, so I must break it off" monologue irked me, and his frequent ghosting as a result set wrong with me. It didn't result in much drama, but it felt icky.
Also, can we talk about the disparity between the details of Elijah's career and Pax's? We literally know nothing about his job that takes him out of the city Monday through Friday--we don't know what kind of company he's in, what he is selling (at some point, it becomes clear he is closing deals? deals of what? in what capacity? every week???) or how it relates to his major.
Oh, and their friends are messy. It's not necessarily a complaint, so much as I'm a. not sure why they're friends, really, and b. It feels really odd that no one has tried to do anything about this. Also, it's a bit icky for a bunch of men and women between the ages of 22 and 30 to hang out with an 18-year-old kid. Like, we can acknowledge that, right?
I also felt like this book could use some more editing. I think I found my first typo 2% into the novel, and there was just something very awkward about the punctuation mark placement that made it a little awkward to read. I often time had to re-read sentences because they sounded wrong in my head--but no, that's just how they were written.
Score
Plot - 16/20
Characters - 16/20
Relationships - 16/20
Writing - 14/20
Reading Experience - 16/20
Final score: 78
Tags
#MM Romance
#Best Friend's Brother
#Age Gap Romance
This was fun, but I've definitely read better (and recently lol).
This book falls under two romantic tropes - age gap and "best friend's brother." Elijah is a socially awkward PhD student who is living far away from his best friend for the first time in around 13 years. Said best friend recruits his older brother, Pax, who is 8 years their senior, to make sure Elijah is doing okay. Of course, that request did not include Pax sleeping with the nerdy Elijah, but hey... these things happen, right? Especially when Pax has been Elijah's forever crush.
Overall, these two were cute. Am I 100% bought into their romance? Not really, mostly because I don't think we got enough of them just being together and learning about each other in a non-physical capacity. Once intimacy started playing a role, it felt like all we got to see of them. But yes, they were cute and mostly angst-free.
That being said, quite a few things bothered me about this novel. Some are rather nitpicky, while others are a bit more substantial, but hey--it's my personal opinion, so I can be as nitpicky as I want!
Among the more substantial things is my complicated feelings toward Pax. While I mostly enjoyed him, there were just some things that stopped me from loving him. First, Neuhold chose to add Pax being a
Furthermore,
Also, can we talk about the disparity between the details of Elijah's career and Pax's? We literally know nothing about his job that takes him out of the city Monday through Friday--we don't know what kind of company he's in, what he is selling (at some point, it becomes clear he is closing deals? deals of what? in what capacity? every week???) or how it relates to his major.
Oh, and their friends are messy. It's not necessarily a complaint, so much as I'm a. not sure why they're friends, really, and b. It feels really odd that no one has tried to do anything about this. Also, it's a bit icky for a bunch of men and women between the ages of 22 and 30 to hang out with an 18-year-old kid. Like, we can acknowledge that, right?
I also felt like this book could use some more editing. I think I found my first typo 2% into the novel, and there was just something very awkward about the punctuation mark placement that made it a little awkward to read. I often time had to re-read sentences because they sounded wrong in my head--but no, that's just how they were written.
Score
Plot - 16/20
Characters - 16/20
Relationships - 16/20
Writing - 14/20
Reading Experience - 16/20
Final score: 78
Tags
#MM Romance
#Best Friend's Brother
#Age Gap Romance