A review by unusablebooklore
Played by Naima Simone

Did not finish book. Stopped at 44%.

Pro: Strong premises - FMC firefighter / MMC hockey pro 

Found journal! Almost as good as texts/emails - Really only lasted about 6 pages. 

 

Within, in book, minutes he goes from so wracked by grief he’s only living for his son, to thinking about a woman’s mouth being perfect for a 🍆, all before speaking to her. Oh and then he instantly “detests” her for his own emotions. It’s all giving 🚩

Seriously, during a HEAVY conversation about grief and suicide Solomon is sexually objectifying Adina and imagining his sexual pleasure 🤮 

 

Solomon blowing up over his journal feels a little untethered…he’s just continuing to scream about how his privacy was violated. I’m not sure what he expects beyond the apology that he got early in the conversation. 

 

The LOTR references got to be a bit much for me. And the real life American football references. I know nothing about American football and to be perfectly frank I don’t want to mess up my targeted ads/algorithm by googling about it. 

 

Adina’s mom is 48…Adina (26) her parents have been together 31 years and she has two older brothers. 3 kids by the time you’re 22. Nope. I cannot relate and it gives me chills. I’m 38 and still trying to avoid becoming a teen mom. 

 

The book feels like The Wright Brothers series by Christina C. Jones but with WAY more toxic masculinity and an abundance of Christianity.

 

Seriously everyone in this book is on a hair-trigger. I cannot imagine the stress (and future heart attacks) these people are dealing with. So much aggression, instant assumption that people are shady, or people are just overtly hostile because they can be? 

 

At 44% I realised I was still reading the book because I didn’t want to just give up. Reading diversely is important to me (BIPOC author and MCs), I really liked the premise and I was 100% in the mood for an emotion driven book. But hate reading a book is not a pleasure for me. While this book may be really enjoyed by other people it's really not something I’m enjoying or vibing with. I have literally nothing but critiques in my notes.