read for OWLs Magical Readathon 2019: Muggle Studies, a contemporary

I really did not vibe with this book. The writing was really juvenile. Also the author inserted hashtags everywhere and I'm not really sure why. Alexa is in marketing, but she doesn't seem to be particularly social media savvy or use it a lot, so I have no idea why the hashtags were everywhere. I think if I liked the writing more I wouldn't have minded them, but because I was already not enjoying it, they really grated at my nerves. Even worse, the characters were one-dimensional. Seriously, I feel like I know absolutely nothing about the hero besides he's a really good football player - which is not a personality. The 'wicked wives' of the Mustangs were so basic mean girls. The conflict between them and Marlee wasn't interesting. They all hate her for being a 'groupie' although she's dating her first boyfriend for TEN YEARS. So the hate felt really contrived. I mean I'm not saying the wives should have been nice, being a bitch is fine! But they were so uninteresting.

Also there's a threat of sexual assault that happens a couple of times in this novel. I hated it. But I feel really sensitive to it right now. I just listened to an interview with Cameron Esposito where she mentioned how she took a moment and noticed how the majority of media has elements of sexual assault. And it felt really unnecessary. Like I completely understand that this happens. Women are constantly at threat in the world, particularly women of color. But there are so many other ways to create tension to draw the hero and heroine together that don't involve the heroine being threatened. It put a really sour taste in my mouth and even though I was not vibing with the book already, I felt completely put off in that moment.