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desiree930 's review for:
My Favorite Half-Night Stand
by Christina Lauren
I don’t have a whole lot to say about this book. It’s interesting, because Christina Lauren are such darlings right now, and the only thing I really remember people saying about this book is that the catfishing premise felt a little icky.
With the popularity of The Unhoneymooners (Yay!) and Josh and Hazel’s Guide To Not Dating (BOO) I was a little surprised that this title seemed to come and go with almost no fanfare.
Then I read the book, and I kind of get it. I don’t think it was as bad as the critical reviews were saying. The catfishing is definitely a murky foundation for a love story in ‘everything is problematic’ 2019, but I don’t think the book was advocating it. The main character knew what she was doing was shady and most likely going to blow up in her face....which it did. The male protagonist doesn’t just let her off the hook. She has to earn back his trust by actually opening up to him as herself and not as a random person on the internet. Some might still say he forgives her too easily, and that’s fine, but I also don’t need this type of book to keep going. It’s not that deep.
To move on to other things, I wanted to like our characters more than I did. There is this friend group that we are supposed to love, but honestly, I couldn’t keep the friends straight. None of them were particularly interesting, and I couldn’t tell you a thing about any of their personalities because they weren’t developed. I would go a step further and say that if they weren’t in the book, it would’ve pretty much been the same book...they don’t add anything to the landscape.
The ‘banter’ between our main characters is good online, while Millie is pretending to be Cat. But honestly, I’m not sure I even believe she and Reed (Reid? I listened to the audiobook) were really that close like we’re supposed to believe. The only time they really talk to each other in an open way is during two of their three on-page sexual encounters, and that was NOT successful for me at all. I’m not a huge fan of sex scenes with a bunch of awkward, inane dialogue...that’s not sexy...
With the popularity of The Unhoneymooners (Yay!) and Josh and Hazel’s Guide To Not Dating (BOO) I was a little surprised that this title seemed to come and go with almost no fanfare.
Then I read the book, and I kind of get it. I don’t think it was as bad as the critical reviews were saying. The catfishing is definitely a murky foundation for a love story in ‘everything is problematic’ 2019, but I don’t think the book was advocating it. The main character knew what she was doing was shady and most likely going to blow up in her face....which it did. The male protagonist doesn’t just let her off the hook. She has to earn back his trust by actually opening up to him as herself and not as a random person on the internet. Some might still say he forgives her too easily, and that’s fine, but I also don’t need this type of book to keep going. It’s not that deep.
To move on to other things, I wanted to like our characters more than I did. There is this friend group that we are supposed to love, but honestly, I couldn’t keep the friends straight. None of them were particularly interesting, and I couldn’t tell you a thing about any of their personalities because they weren’t developed. I would go a step further and say that if they weren’t in the book, it would’ve pretty much been the same book...they don’t add anything to the landscape.
The ‘banter’ between our main characters is good online, while Millie is pretending to be Cat. But honestly, I’m not sure I even believe she and Reed (Reid? I listened to the audiobook) were really that close like we’re supposed to believe. The only time they really talk to each other in an open way is during two of their three on-page sexual encounters, and that was NOT successful for me at all. I’m not a huge fan of sex scenes with a bunch of awkward, inane dialogue...that’s not sexy...