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A review by midknytowl
Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake
emotional
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Oof, I don't know the last time I read a romance where I truly wished they didn't end up together at the end. 🤦♀️
Leaving someone at the altar is going to be a hard one to get over at the best of times, but you know that going into it, and honestly, kind of okay with it. She shouldn't have done it and her reasons weren't amazing, but I can kind of get why that was how it was broken off a teeny tiny bit.I mean if you can't express why it's no good every single time you talk, then no, talking yet again is not going to help. I can buy the panic attack leaving feeling like the only option. However, my dear Brighton, might I introduce you to the written word? A letter, a text, a song, etc. If you can't get it out in person because they can talk around you, remove the them talking part.
What I can't get, however, is them ever being in a happy relationship. I don't want this to be one of the reviews where I end up writing six pages, so I'm just going to throw random things that did not work for me.
1. How did no one suggest therapy to Charlotte until two chapters from the end of this book? What kind of friend was Brighton or her family that no one ever mentioned it. The girl is basically a walking ad for therapist for all.
2. Elle. Do you remember Elle? Don't feel bad, the author didn't either. They get a set up and are an active part of maybe two chapters in the beginning, and that's it. Almost felt like they were a token gender queer so you had one and then you were good. Also at very nice of themto have to randomly move across the country so it was easier for you to leave NYC. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it they were the only one not in the epilogue Christmas. Wes made it, even Darian made it, but Elle? Nah, no Christmas trip for you, you're not allowed out of LA. The two guys running restaurants, including a brand new one, that's fine though. Do better.
3. How they crossed paths again. Look, I can suspend so much disbelief in a romance, but you're telling me two exes moved to different cities in different states, one to NYC no less, and made new best friends that happened to be sisters? And that in five years Brighton never pieced it together this? (Charlotte didn't listen enough to know Sloan's sister's name wasn't Deli, so I believe her never figuring it out.)
4. Which let's just talk about Charlotte being a terrible human. Yes, it sucks your mom was not a mother at all, but damn I've seen people with so much worse parent issues be less fucked up than this. Also, 12 on you had basically parents from Brighton's parents. If you had gotten your ass to therapy, Brighton might not havethought she had to sacrifice everything of herself for you to be happy. Still not a decent enough excuse for standing up at the altar, but still.
5. The sex. Now I read smut and straight up practically plotless erotica, so not a prude, but the sex in this one made me uncomfortable. Seriously, first thought maybe it was because I hadn't read anything decently spicy that wasn't hetero in too long, and then I started having an existential bisexual crisis over here wondering if I never really liked women at all. 😅 I think it was just out of place? Or the way it was written didn't work for me? I skimmed the last one of the book, so clearly wasn't doing anything for me. I think probably because it always read like fucking, when some of it should have been making love. It just... didn't always fit the vibe of the scene.
6. The sex. These two need to stop having it, and not just because of #5. Look, relationships have sexy times, and I am (usually) here for it. But there's a time and place.The morning before your wedding when you really need to talk shit out? Nah, just have sex instead! I think you're a traitor giving our wedding song to your old band and I'm running away crying? Sexy times for you! Or would have been, if not for the potential frostbite probably. There's so many times where they just need to talk or figure things out but they just end up having sex instead. (And it's not an erotica type just throwing in sex scenes everywhere, it's even off page.) I get when you're reconciling, but it was horny teenagers can't get too close to each other without jumping each other's bones even in the flashbacks when they had been together for years. I'm buying you chastity belts so you can talk and sort things out.
This is already way too long and I have more, but I'll end with my biggest one.
7. The resolution. You can't build up how incompatible they are so much to try to make the leaving at the altar seem almost reasonable, and then just magically poof that's not a problem anymore.Thank you Elle and your sick grandmother for your sacrifice to making it a guilt free solution. These were basically deal breaker issues. But it's fine, bring on the epilogue, it's all magically worked out now!
I wish they had realized with the history and Charlotte's childhood trauma that they just needed to be best friends and move to a bigger town that had more than one other queer person and date. The fact neither of you ever dated anyone else isn't romantic, it's part of the problem. I would be much happier if they had realized this and the epilogue was years later where they've moved into fully platonic best friends and have their own separate partners. Which is not a great head cannon desire for a romance.
2.5 because I really enjoyed it in the beginning.
Leaving someone at the altar is going to be a hard one to get over at the best of times, but you know that going into it, and honestly, kind of okay with it. She shouldn't have done it and her reasons weren't amazing, but I can kind of get why that was how it was broken off a teeny tiny bit.
What I can't get, however, is them ever being in a happy relationship. I don't want this to be one of the reviews where I end up writing six pages, so I'm just going to throw random things that did not work for me.
1. How did no one suggest therapy to Charlotte until two chapters from the end of this book? What kind of friend was Brighton or her family that no one ever mentioned it. The girl is basically a walking ad for therapist for all.
2. Elle. Do you remember Elle? Don't feel bad, the author didn't either. They get a set up and are an active part of maybe two chapters in the beginning, and that's it. Almost felt like they were a token gender queer so you had one and then you were good. Also at very nice of them
3. How they crossed paths again. Look, I can suspend so much disbelief in a romance, but you're telling me two exes moved to different cities in different states, one to NYC no less, and made new best friends that happened to be sisters? And that in five years Brighton never pieced it together this? (Charlotte didn't listen enough to know Sloan's sister's name wasn't Deli, so I believe her never figuring it out.)
4. Which let's just talk about Charlotte being a terrible human. Yes, it sucks your mom was not a mother at all, but damn I've seen people with so much worse parent issues be less fucked up than this. Also, 12 on you had basically parents from Brighton's parents. If you had gotten your ass to therapy, Brighton might not have
5. The sex. Now I read smut and straight up practically plotless erotica, so not a prude, but the sex in this one made me uncomfortable. Seriously, first thought maybe it was because I hadn't read anything decently spicy that wasn't hetero in too long, and then I started having an existential bisexual crisis over here wondering if I never really liked women at all. 😅 I think it was just out of place? Or the way it was written didn't work for me? I skimmed the last one of the book, so clearly wasn't doing anything for me. I think probably because it always read like fucking, when some of it should have been making love. It just... didn't always fit the vibe of the scene.
6. The sex. These two need to stop having it, and not just because of #5. Look, relationships have sexy times, and I am (usually) here for it. But there's a time and place.
This is already way too long and I have more, but I'll end with my biggest one.
7. The resolution. You can't build up how incompatible they are so much to try to make the leaving at the altar seem almost reasonable, and then just magically poof that's not a problem anymore.
I wish they had realized with the history and Charlotte's childhood trauma that they just needed to be best friends and move to a bigger town that had more than one other queer person and date. The fact neither of you ever dated anyone else isn't romantic, it's part of the problem. I would be much happier if they had realized this and the epilogue was years later where they've moved into fully platonic best friends and have their own separate partners. Which is not a great head cannon desire for a romance.
2.5 because I really enjoyed it in the beginning.