This was almost a carbon copy of The Dead Romantics with the same glaring issue: the romance - where was it? And yeah, I’m gonna rate this lower than I did TDR because Poston somehow wrote The Seven Year Slip in between - which is one of my desert island reads. I know she can do better. I’m starting to think I need to re-read TSYS because maybe I’ve misremembered its awesomeness.

This book was so disappointing and in desperate need of an editor. Anders’ eyes were described at minty over 20 times, his blonde hair looked golden in [insert time of day] ad nauseum. There was a typo on page ONE. At one point Elsy puts a tenner on the diner table to pay, and several paragraphs later she puts another tenner to pay. Woops. Forgot to edit one of those out.

Anders may have been stale bread but Elsy was mean and abusive and stale bread deserves better. She nearly runs him over with her car, she slaps him because he said some rude stuff about her ex (doesn’t justify physically assaulting a person), and when he is afraid of heights crossing a rope bridge she rocks the bridge to scare him more.*** Naturally, he apologizes.

We tried to manufacture enemies to lovers for a hot minute without any real reason for them being enemies? People keep saying there’s some grumpy/sunshine trope here but since when is sunshine this much of an asshole?

I am so tired of our leading lady being some incompetent buffoon who the love interest is unjustifiably smitten with. At one point Anders says to Elsy “I think you can do whatever you put your mind to, Eileen. You’re terrifying that way.” Who? The broad you just met who accidentally put sugar in spaghetti not for the first time? This whole scene was so bizzare - Anders offers to make her dinner and she steamrolls him and takes over because she doesn't think he knows how to boil water and open a jar. Neither does she, obviously.

At one point Poston has this silly moment making fun of The Dead Romantics -so meta! - and I kept thinking yeah, those are actually some of the things that sucked about that book. I don’t think this is having the impact you wanted it to.

I dunno. This was a massive massive miss for me. I don’t like any of these jerks. Someone said this book would have worked better as a horror novel and I’m inclined to agree.

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***Gonna get on my soapbox here - but listen, y'all, sometimes as women we really need to be more critical of our own actions and how they perpetuate the patriarchy. Why is Anders' body not worthy of the same respect as Elsy's? It's ok to almost murder him without apology and to physically assault him because he said something mean? I'm supposed to find this funny? It's not. It's ok to prey on his fear of heights and make a joke about it? He should just be a man and suck it up? It was just a joke! Jeez stop taking everything so seriously!! Seriously, no. I'm tired of this. This is not a dark romance, this is a rom-com. Be nice.