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A review by lilywhite0789
Faded in Bloom by Julia Wolf
2.0
Adam & Adelaide's dynamic and the back and forth throughout the entire book was aggravating and almost agonizing. It didn’t really feel like they had much chemistry or were really that close of friends to begin with. It was an entire year of just sexual tension and very little character growth and development. Their 'game' was a terrible idea from the start and they just refused to acknowledge it. Once they actually started having sex, they still refused to talk about their feelings, just further hurting each other. It was cringy.
From the first chapter, I disliked Adelaide, so it made it hard to feel for her and connect to her character. I get the format with time jumps at the beginning of books - Start with serious current situation that makes no sense to the readers and then in the next chapter go back *insert time frame here* and slowly explain everything that lead up to the opening scene that will now make complete sense. But Adelaide came across as a cold heartless cunt refusing to answer any of Adams questions.
So we get the backstory on what lead up to the opening scene and while Adelaide may not be a cold heartless cunt, she is still kind of a bitch. Adelaide fell for Adam first, but she doesn’t tell him. She lies to him, saying that everything is ok and they’re “still us” with their game of friends-who-mutually-masturbate-but-don't-touch, but she’s actually torn up inside. So she gets increasingly mad at him because she's in love with him and thinks it’s unrequited. I get she’s heartbroken and having a mix of different emotions about everything, but she dug her own grave when she lied about things being okay when they weren’t. If you tell him everything’s okay, you can’t be mad that he doesn’t know something is wrong. At no point did she clearly communicate how she felt. I kind of feel like she didn’t even give him the chance to break her heart - she just assumed he didn’t have feelings for her, technically breaking her own heart and then being pissed at him about it. Yeah, she flirted and had behaviors that very strongly implied her feelings, but never said anything.
But then there’s Adam. I’ve read books with dense characters before, but Adam here is special. None of Adelaide’s strong implications of her feelings for him would have made a dent. He’s so dense, he couldn’t even recognize his own feelings based in his actions and implications, so there was no way he would have seen hers. Adam is so stupid and blind that he didn’t realized Adelaide is in love with him, and him with her (but again, stupid and doesn't know he is). I don’t remember if he ever used the specific phrasing “She’s mine” (I might be confusing it with other books that I’ve read recently) but I’m pretty sure he said this or something along these lines at some point, there was still Alpha-male possessiveness - “I don't like when she takes the ring off” or “I can't see her with anyone else.” How could he NOT realize he was in love with her? It’s not normal to have those thoughts and feelings for just a friend.
The fake engagement felt both forced and just awkward. Like, I don’t recall him making any mention of a plan on how it would work. It felt like he was perfectly fine faking a marriage too. And the unprotected sex, so then they buy plan B, but he’s all “It's okay if you don't take it.” It just got kind of cringy and frustrating. Like how can you be okay with all of this if you're not in love with her? Like, what's your plan? Fuck her, marry her, impregnate her, but refuse to admit you love her? He basically had his friends/bandmates spelling it out for him that he was in love with her, but he was just ‘She’s my best friend’ and it took a painful amount of time for him to figure it out.
From the first chapter, I disliked Adelaide, so it made it hard to feel for her and connect to her character. I get the format with time jumps at the beginning of books - Start with serious current situation that makes no sense to the readers and then in the next chapter go back *insert time frame here* and slowly explain everything that lead up to the opening scene that will now make complete sense. But Adelaide came across as a cold heartless cunt refusing to answer any of Adams questions.
So we get the backstory on what lead up to the opening scene and while Adelaide may not be a cold heartless cunt, she is still kind of a bitch. Adelaide fell for Adam first, but she doesn’t tell him. She lies to him, saying that everything is ok and they’re “still us” with their game of friends-who-mutually-masturbate-but-don't-touch, but she’s actually torn up inside. So she gets increasingly mad at him because she's in love with him and thinks it’s unrequited. I get she’s heartbroken and having a mix of different emotions about everything, but she dug her own grave when she lied about things being okay when they weren’t. If you tell him everything’s okay, you can’t be mad that he doesn’t know something is wrong. At no point did she clearly communicate how she felt. I kind of feel like she didn’t even give him the chance to break her heart - she just assumed he didn’t have feelings for her, technically breaking her own heart and then being pissed at him about it. Yeah, she flirted and had behaviors that very strongly implied her feelings, but never said anything.
But then there’s Adam. I’ve read books with dense characters before, but Adam here is special. None of Adelaide’s strong implications of her feelings for him would have made a dent. He’s so dense, he couldn’t even recognize his own feelings based in his actions and implications, so there was no way he would have seen hers. Adam is so stupid and blind that he didn’t realized Adelaide is in love with him, and him with her (but again, stupid and doesn't know he is). I don’t remember if he ever used the specific phrasing “She’s mine” (I might be confusing it with other books that I’ve read recently) but I’m pretty sure he said this or something along these lines at some point, there was still Alpha-male possessiveness - “I don't like when she takes the ring off” or “I can't see her with anyone else.” How could he NOT realize he was in love with her? It’s not normal to have those thoughts and feelings for just a friend.
The fake engagement felt both forced and just awkward. Like, I don’t recall him making any mention of a plan on how it would work. It felt like he was perfectly fine faking a marriage too. And the unprotected sex, so then they buy plan B, but he’s all “It's okay if you don't take it.” It just got kind of cringy and frustrating. Like how can you be okay with all of this if you're not in love with her? Like, what's your plan? Fuck her, marry her, impregnate her, but refuse to admit you love her? He basically had his friends/bandmates spelling it out for him that he was in love with her, but he was just ‘She’s my best friend’ and it took a painful amount of time for him to figure it out.