lessthelonely
Written on Jan 24, 2023
tl;dr: While the book is clearly marketed as a boyband romance and it ultimately delivers it, some subplots introduced that seemingly go nowhere end up bringing the whole story down, making it a little unsatisfying to not know the past or the future of the characters.
This is, I believe, my first book of the year, almost to the end of January, but I read it. What is my background for this book? I read one of Cale Dietrich's books, which, while somewhat enjoyable, left me feeling underwhelming, maybe a little bit annoyed at how in love the writing seemed to be with the love interest. I don't know if it's the fact that Sophie Gonzales - a writer whom I've known has some good reputation for her books - is also involved in this, but I feel like the problems I've had with Cale Dietrich's writing were mostly absent here. I will say though: you can still tell who wrote who without looking it up if you've read Cale Dietrich, I believe.
I feel like this book had everything to be a masterpiece. I don't think it was, even if I can't say I disliked it. There is a lot to relate here, from parental criticism to avoiding confrontation to the point it's crippling. What I believe is the problem here is that the romance takes center stage but at the same part it doesn't: subplots take most of the spotlight from the romance. There isn't a lot of pining, there isn't a lot of "want", just... There's a vague feeling and it becomes real.
But then these sideplots get mostly forgotten or very quickly dismissed, which ends up giving you a sour taste in your mouth, even if it's not inherently unsatisfying and somewhat enjoyable to read, as the writing is more than OK in my opinion.
Mentioning Becky Albertali in the acknowledgements was simply a jumpscare.