A review by hereforthefunofit
One True Loves by Elise Bryant
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The impact of a 3rd act conflict is lost when it's so formulaic. It just becomes annoying to me.
The beginning of the book was parading a four for me, but from the three quarter onward...a big no. The only thing I appreciated after the conflict was the talk Lenore and her parents had but even that ends up fall flat for me, for a similar reason why the resolve falls flat for in the first book of this series, Happily Ever Afters.
One True Loves feels quite short with how the book is paced. The beginning drags some, then she is finally on vacation and things start to move. Alex and Lenore meet and to avoid giving away too much, I'll say I loved their snark with e/o. Then, they get together and although I'm happy they do; it just starts moving all too fast. Their snark turns into syruppy, sticky, overwhelming sweetness at the flip of a switch and I wanted to gag. (Lol, that's a me problem though). That drastic change wasn't making any sense to me until I realised they needed to be real close and 'in love' for the 3rd act conflict to hit more. But when you rush a couple just so that they can be in a stupid problem for exactly the 75% mark, you've fucked your own book. That's just my opinion though. And that's my main, and really only gripe with this book I was really enjoying and wanting to give five stars. That 3rd act perfectly serves someone and I'm happy for them and since I've liked Elise Bryant's work so far, I know something she puts out in the future will perfectly serve me too...i hope.
(This is me coming in some hours later, but I remembered another gripe. It's mentioned in the blurb so I'll just go out with it. It's repetivite with explanations. Lenore explains over and over that she is stressed because of her parent's expectation: often saying she isn't the black excellence that they want in a child. But I just feel like if that's said once or even twice, it doesn't need to be constantly reiterated. Everytime she has an argument with her parents about or is just feeling down, the whole soap-box speech doesn't need to be restated. We understand, and we understood from the first time.)
The beginning of the book was parading a four for me, but from the three quarter onward...a big no. The only thing I appreciated after the conflict was the talk Lenore and her parents had but even that ends up fall flat for me, for a similar reason why the resolve falls flat for in the first book of this series, Happily Ever Afters.
One True Loves feels quite short with how the book is paced. The beginning drags some, then she is finally on vacation and things start to move. Alex and Lenore meet and to avoid giving away too much, I'll say I loved their snark with e/o. Then, they get together and although I'm happy they do; it just starts moving all too fast. Their snark turns into syruppy, sticky, overwhelming sweetness at the flip of a switch and I wanted to gag. (Lol, that's a me problem though). That drastic change wasn't making any sense to me until I realised they needed to be real close and 'in love' for the 3rd act conflict to hit more. But when you rush a couple just so that they can be in a stupid problem for exactly the 75% mark, you've fucked your own book. That's just my opinion though. And that's my main, and really only gripe with this book I was really enjoying and wanting to give five stars. That 3rd act perfectly serves someone and I'm happy for them and since I've liked Elise Bryant's work so far, I know something she puts out in the future will perfectly serve me too...i hope.
(This is me coming in some hours later, but I remembered another gripe. It's mentioned in the blurb so I'll just go out with it. It's repetivite with explanations. Lenore explains over and over that she is stressed because of her parent's expectation: often saying she isn't the black excellence that they want in a child. But I just feel like if that's said once or even twice, it doesn't need to be constantly reiterated. Everytime she has an argument with her parents about or is just feeling down, the whole soap-box speech doesn't need to be restated. We understand, and we understood from the first time.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Vomit