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pn_hinton 's review for:
Like Lovers Do
by Tracey Livesay
I was given an ARC of this book through NetGalley and Avon Books.
This is more like a 3.5 stars but we can't get half ratings and I didn't like it enough to bump it up to four. I had reservations as to whether or not I would even enjoy it after reading the first chapter since it set up to be more like Women's Fiction than Romance. Which isn't a bad thing but I like to know what I'm getting into when I start a book. And the tone of the first chapter set it up to be something I was not in the mood for.
Luckily for me the tone shifted with the second chapter and kept at it for the rest of the book. Frankly compared to the rest of the book the first chapter seemed to be out of place. Maybe it got tweaked, removed, or turned into a Prologue in the final copy but honestly it didn't serve to further the plot of the book at all so it is completely unnecessary. I am a huge fan of friends to lovers although maybe not as much as enemies to lovers. I also do enjoy a good (that being the operative word) fake dating so the fact that this married two of my preferred tropes was exciting. And for the most part it delivered.
There were a few things that were unbelievable for me, such as Ben not knowing why what Tinsley, his ex, said to Nic was inappropriate. There was Nic's almost borderline obsession with thinking a man would try to change her or force her to change her dreams. It may sound weird but I had an easier time believing Ben's emotional hang up than Nic's. It wasn't until the end that it came to light why she was like that so glimpses of that earlier in the book would have gone a long way so it didn't get tedious.
Then there was the character of Tinsley herself. It was exceedingly difficult believe that even someone that privileged made it that far in life without someone getting into a verbal or physical assault with her. In my opinion all of the background characters once they got to the Vineyard were very cardboard cut out. Parker was wishy-washy, Bronwen was almost as annoying as Tinsley, and Davis was like an unfunny and less charming version of the character Terrence Howard played in The Best Man. I know they were necessary as part of the fake dating aspect, but goodness I didn't enjoy getting to know any of them.
That and the fact that Nic constantly used Facetime with phone calls. That was a small annoyance but it was there.
That said, I did enjoy this book but not as much as I could have. A large part of that had to do with not liking any of the background characters we spent most of the book around. I will pick up more by this author for sure though since I genuinely enjoyed it and it was just the breath of literary air I needed.
This is more like a 3.5 stars but we can't get half ratings and I didn't like it enough to bump it up to four. I had reservations as to whether or not I would even enjoy it after reading the first chapter since it set up to be more like Women's Fiction than Romance. Which isn't a bad thing but I like to know what I'm getting into when I start a book. And the tone of the first chapter set it up to be something I was not in the mood for.
Luckily for me the tone shifted with the second chapter and kept at it for the rest of the book. Frankly compared to the rest of the book the first chapter seemed to be out of place. Maybe it got tweaked, removed, or turned into a Prologue in the final copy but honestly it didn't serve to further the plot of the book at all so it is completely unnecessary. I am a huge fan of friends to lovers although maybe not as much as enemies to lovers. I also do enjoy a good (that being the operative word) fake dating so the fact that this married two of my preferred tropes was exciting. And for the most part it delivered.
There were a few things that were unbelievable for me, such as Ben not knowing why what Tinsley, his ex, said to Nic was inappropriate. There was Nic's almost borderline obsession with thinking a man would try to change her or force her to change her dreams. It may sound weird but I had an easier time believing Ben's emotional hang up than Nic's. It wasn't until the end that it came to light why she was like that so glimpses of that earlier in the book would have gone a long way so it didn't get tedious.
Then there was the character of Tinsley herself. It was exceedingly difficult believe that even someone that privileged made it that far in life without someone getting into a verbal or physical assault with her. In my opinion all of the background characters once they got to the Vineyard were very cardboard cut out. Parker was wishy-washy, Bronwen was almost as annoying as Tinsley, and Davis was like an unfunny and less charming version of the character Terrence Howard played in The Best Man. I know they were necessary as part of the fake dating aspect, but goodness I didn't enjoy getting to know any of them.
That and the fact that Nic constantly used Facetime with phone calls. That was a small annoyance but it was there.
That said, I did enjoy this book but not as much as I could have. A large part of that had to do with not liking any of the background characters we spent most of the book around. I will pick up more by this author for sure though since I genuinely enjoyed it and it was just the breath of literary air I needed.