A review by cozybec
Happenstance by Tessa Bailey
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
"There is not way I'm considering this. Obviously. Because it's straight up kooky."
All Elise wants is to become a journalist. Well, that's what she wants now - after a failed food truck start-up, military career, and various other half-finished careers. But when she's following a story about the corrupt politics in her home of New York City, she finds herself trapped on a tram during a power surge with three men: Tobias, an ex-adult film star, Banks, the coach of the New York Rugby team, and Gabe, a construction foreman. When the four of them have an electric connection, Elise starts to question what life would be like if she did embrace the sudden feelings she has for not just one, but three men.
Y'all, I don't know how to review this. I'm not an expert in reverse harems or why choose romances, but this one made me feel like ripping my hair out at the root. At the end of the day it's not a BAD book - Tessa Bailey has an incredible way of making even the most ridiculous of situations fun and endearing, but so much of this just absolutely enraged me. Especially since this is coming off the heels of me reading and adoring Ruthless Boys - which gave me five books of slow burn and relationships that made sense, I feel like I was handed an empty plate and a fork and told to enjoy. Enjoy what? Nothing? Air?? Where is the SEASONING.
Elise absolutely infuriated me. If you don't have a journalistic background, I don't think you're going to care about her wacky side-plot and the end it comes to, but as someone who spent endless years in the trenches I was ready to foam at the mouth from sheer fury. She's an idiot and it made me mad. The end of this book was like driving a nail into my eye socket from the sheer ludicrous nature of how it wraps up. I need to go read Scandalized by Ivy Owens again to cleanse my palate.
I enjoyed the men - for what it's worth. Banks was a delight (but I'm severely grumpy that we never get an individual bonding moment with him), Tobias was a nice change of pace (cocky but needy man with rampant trust issues? Say less), and Gabe was your traditional himbo with a dark past, but he made it work. I just couldn't buy this entire book. Maybe I just have an easier time with RH when it's presented in a fantasy setting, but I was ready to cringe out of my skin every time they all kissed each other in public. It's me, I'm the problem. But also... no, just no.
There was also this weird thing through the entire book where Tessa Bailey seemed to try to keep the writing light-hearted, but it just came across as painfully awkward. Terminology non-withstanding, I'd rather just read the word "ass" ten times in a row instead of being subjected to "globes" or "buttocks." I probably won't be rereading this, and I wished this had been the silly, lighthearted read I needed to get me out of this slump, but my God, I'm still over here struggling.
If you've read this far: Happenstance is a good introduction if you've never read a well-written RH before. But that's all it is. It's "Intro to Why Choose Romance 101" and I'm in the upper-level classes with a headache wishing I'd just picked up Zodiac Academy or restarted Ruthless Boys.
Content warnings: sexual content (handful of scenes, some kinks), kidnapping (both as a joke and very much not a joke), gun violence (on page, very startling, last 10%), stalking (Elise is "pursuing leads" and also Gabe has a tendency to track her like a bloodhound), infidelity (not by the Tram Fam, but a huge part of Gabe's story), sexual innuendos/brash sexual advances (I feel like Tobias needs a warning for being a giant prick for 70% of this story)
All Elise wants is to become a journalist. Well, that's what she wants now - after a failed food truck start-up, military career, and various other half-finished careers. But when she's following a story about the corrupt politics in her home of New York City, she finds herself trapped on a tram during a power surge with three men: Tobias, an ex-adult film star, Banks, the coach of the New York Rugby team, and Gabe, a construction foreman. When the four of them have an electric connection, Elise starts to question what life would be like if she did embrace the sudden feelings she has for not just one, but three men.
Y'all, I don't know how to review this. I'm not an expert in reverse harems or why choose romances, but this one made me feel like ripping my hair out at the root. At the end of the day it's not a BAD book - Tessa Bailey has an incredible way of making even the most ridiculous of situations fun and endearing, but so much of this just absolutely enraged me. Especially since this is coming off the heels of me reading and adoring Ruthless Boys - which gave me five books of slow burn and relationships that made sense, I feel like I was handed an empty plate and a fork and told to enjoy. Enjoy what? Nothing? Air?? Where is the SEASONING.
Elise absolutely infuriated me. If you don't have a journalistic background, I don't think you're going to care about her wacky side-plot and the end it comes to, but as someone who spent endless years in the trenches I was ready to foam at the mouth from sheer fury. She's an idiot and it made me mad. The end of this book was like driving a nail into my eye socket from the sheer ludicrous nature of how it wraps up. I need to go read Scandalized by Ivy Owens again to cleanse my palate.
I enjoyed the men - for what it's worth. Banks was a delight (but I'm severely grumpy that we never get an individual bonding moment with him), Tobias was a nice change of pace (cocky but needy man with rampant trust issues? Say less), and Gabe was your traditional himbo with a dark past, but he made it work. I just couldn't buy this entire book. Maybe I just have an easier time with RH when it's presented in a fantasy setting, but I was ready to cringe out of my skin every time they all kissed each other in public. It's me, I'm the problem. But also... no, just no.
There was also this weird thing through the entire book where Tessa Bailey seemed to try to keep the writing light-hearted, but it just came across as painfully awkward. Terminology non-withstanding, I'd rather just read the word "ass" ten times in a row instead of being subjected to "globes" or "buttocks." I probably won't be rereading this, and I wished this had been the silly, lighthearted read I needed to get me out of this slump, but my God, I'm still over here struggling.
If you've read this far: Happenstance is a good introduction if you've never read a well-written RH before. But that's all it is. It's "Intro to Why Choose Romance 101" and I'm in the upper-level classes with a headache wishing I'd just picked up Zodiac Academy or restarted Ruthless Boys.
Content warnings: sexual content (handful of scenes, some kinks), kidnapping (both as a joke and very much not a joke), gun violence (on page, very startling, last 10%), stalking (Elise is "pursuing leads" and also Gabe has a tendency to track her like a bloodhound), infidelity (not by the Tram Fam, but a huge part of Gabe's story), sexual innuendos/brash sexual advances (I feel like Tobias needs a warning for being a giant prick for 70% of this story)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Gun violence
Moderate: Stalking and Infidelity