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crispycritter's Reviews (516)
5 stars for Dodger the ferret. Merripen was up there with obnoxiously hardheaded Kleypas characters, probably on point with Aline in Again the Magic. You've been warned, my angst-averse reader friends.
Someone once said Tessa Dare is superior to Lisa Kleypas and I’m here to tell you that person is very wrong.
Second try with M.A. Wardell and I am just not vibing with the writing. :(
A slightly less fun and unhinged Tessa Bailey book - still enjoyable but by far my least favorite. It almost felt like it was written by another person. My conspiracy theory is that Tessa Baily has a couple ghost writers b/c homegirl puts out 2 or 3 books a year, which is insane. There were many typos in this book, Avon. Do better.
Tallulah's backstory was WAY TOO DARK for the silly rom-com tone of this book and really wasn't given the right treatment. I get that characters need emotional wounds but my goodness, poor Tallulah.
Every time I read about Wells and Josephine I missed them and it made me want to put this book down and go back to re-read Fangirl Down. That book was so much better. The sports ACTUALLY mattered there. Seriously, you guys, why can't we get a hockey romance book where the sport of hockey is actually important to the plot of the book?
Both Tallulah and Burgess litter by shredding paper producs and tossing them into the wind (you know, for drama and symbolism). Just - throw that shit in the trash next time?
The third act hiccup was pretty dramatic and annoyed me. But I think Bailey did a good job of explaining the whys, as much as it ruffled my feathers.
Some small points that took me out of the book:
Tallulah's backstory was WAY TOO DARK for the silly rom-com tone of this book and really wasn't given the right treatment. I get that characters need emotional wounds but my goodness, poor Tallulah.
Every time I read about Wells and Josephine I missed them and it made me want to put this book down and go back to re-read Fangirl Down. That book was so much better. The sports ACTUALLY mattered there. Seriously, you guys, why can't we get a hockey romance book where the sport of hockey is actually important to the plot of the book?
Both Tallulah and Burgess litter by shredding paper producs and tossing them into the wind (you know, for drama and symbolism). Just - throw that shit in the trash next time?
The third act hiccup was pretty dramatic and annoyed me. But I think Bailey did a good job of explaining the whys, as much as it ruffled my feathers.
Some small points that took me out of the book:
- A professional NHL player eating a no-carb diet? No. This is not how professional athletes eat if they care about their performance. Pretty sure 80% of Burgess's grumpiness was his lack of carbs.
- Burgess's
injury and treatment plan were super unrealistic. I consulted the sports PT in my life on this because I was so confused. Two docs tell you it's muscular and suddenly you herniate a disk to the point you'd need A DISC IMPLANT? What??? Also after 8 weeks of recovery you're all better and ZIP LINING and JUMPING OFF CLIFFS???? Nah. Tessa, you could have just had Burgess tear his ACL or something - that would have been sudden and immediately required surgery.
No disrespect to this book - but I already give major sideeye to contemporaries with fake dating tropes because they typically require a bit of a "well it's just romance reasons" leap that I'm not usually willing to make. But I really really struggle with 'celebrity' romances where the MMC is not really a celebrity but we're all just pretending like he is. Issac is an artist/model/something influencer (because that's more relatable than an a-list actor or something) AND he somehow has paparazzi following him around like he's Timotheeee Chablahblahblah. And he has enough of a following in New England for people to just show up at Ni's business in droves once he makes a post about her mom's shea butter. I promise you, I have an easier time as a reader accepting that time travel is possible in a romance than I do accepting that other people care about influencers as much as they care about themselves.
What I liked? The writing! I would read another book by this author. Definitely.
What I liked? The writing! I would read another book by this author. Definitely.
In my Lisa Kleypas era. Just destroying books in a 24 hour reading frenzy. Jack Devlin hot damn.
Do not ignore the trigger warnings in this one.
Do not ignore the trigger warnings in this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage