idk_indigo's Reviews (723)

Up until about 45% through, I was sooo bored with this book. Like, genuinely reading it and yawning and debating what to have for dinner and thinking about what errands I have to run tomorrow kinda bored. About 46% through, though, either it picked up pace or I started liking the boredom because I really sped through the last half. I loved it! I love Rhys honestly he's so cunty slay. I think Tamlin's complete turnaround in personality was lowkey annoying/stupid but also I don't remember the last few chapters of book 1, like, at all so maybe I'm wrong. 

This book did not stick with me, like, at all. Evangeline was annoying and really, really stupid. I feel like she kept making bad decision after bad decision. I don't even remember what they were but I remember being like ma'am... please... the vampire scene pissed me off so bad. The "romance" was mediocre. Will I read the second book? Idk, probably. 

Teehee oopsies 

I wanted to be able to finish this but I am not enjoying it, I'm having so much trouble even picking it up and I hate every single character except for Nia. Maddie herself is outrageously annoying, she acts like she lives under a rock despite being 25, living and going to uni in London, working in the publishing industry... I've just stopped because I can't with the biphobia while perusing dating apps and meeting a bisexual man... one of her best friends is a lesbian and I kinda just can't... perpetuating oversexualized bisexual stereotypes just because you're doing it to a man is still ignorant... and having a lesbian friend doesn't excuse you from queerphobia 

Also her non-black friend helping explain to her that she's being fetishized by a white man just kinda rubs me the wrong way a bit, like she's a child. I think her lack of experience with dating in general is understandable considering childhood neglect + still living at home, but, like I'm finding it a tiny bit hard to believe that this woman has never once heard about things like consent, racism in dating, bisexuality... 

All that being said, the storyline itself is interesting, and I can already see where it's going and it seems cool and whatnot. I'm also sure it gets better and she learns from her mistakes and also realizes what she needs from a partner and figures out how to stand up for herself; so it's too bad I won't be there to see it. 

So it's not that I don't like it, I was actually enjoying it and excited to finish it! They were about to consider starting a triad (see, I know words) with flirtatious energy etc., and I was genuinely looking forward to keep listening. I just want to stress that it wasn't dislike for the book. 

It was that I lost my library card and when I transferred my account to the new one, Libby closed all my current holds and loans... sooo, yeah...

I could say that I might get back to it, however, that would make me a liar. And I am making an active effort not to "go back" I don't finish as there is a reason I DNF things, so. Yw for not lying <3

This book was mixed for me.

The good:
I loved the MMC which is surprising because I don't usually like grumpy male characters. Like, what do you even have to be grumpy about, not enough women to oppress? Shut up! But he was slay, I loved his soft side and I loved that we got to see so much more of him through his friends and through his work and conversations with Olive and stuff. He was cute!!

Olive's small circle of friends was so wonderful, I think they could've been more developed but I really appreciated that she had a little found family while she was navigating stressful situations!

The PhD/academia setting was honestly so much fun, I don't believe I've ever read a romance novel set at a university and I loved seeing all of the little insider things -- people stealing petri dishes, fighting for funding, insufficient research results, etc. it was so cool!

Anxiety representation in an FMC!! Demisexual representation! Yippee!

The sexy scenes! There weren't that many of them (only 2, I did keep count) and they were like a 2/5 in terms of spice: not graphic at all, but I loved them!

The miscommunication! Tbh the trope is growing on me, I really used to dislike it but now I'm like yeah, man, that's life. I thought overall it was pretty realistic, maybe a tiny bit far-fetched (but that was about the fake dating more than the miscommunication) but I was like honestly yeah that would happen to me... I'm a lesbian btw, if that explains anything

The love story itself was so intriguing, I found myself smiling blushing giggling lying on my stomach kicking my feet in the air teehee

The bad:
Olive was very meh for me, I thought her personality was sort of whatever. I struggled to grasp her motives sometimes, and she often felt very helpless and damsel in distress-y. Which, I'll be so honest with you, did not match up at all with what I would hope from a PhD student in STEM. Obviously people (and characters) are nuanced but like sheesh...

And a subsection of my previous complaint, it often felt like Adam was such a stereotypical hero. Buying Olive Starbucks and her saying this is food for the next 2 weeks, which mind you was never addressed again. And that one scene where he

pins some guy up against the wall and she's all like "Daddy it's not worth it!"

I understand that it wasn't supposed to be cringe but it was and also didn't match up with anything we know about Adam up to that point...

It also felt like, regarding the PhD program, that there were so many inconsistencies with "I'm so busy, I never have any time for anything besides school," and then scene upon scene of them doing anything but studying... Very much, for me, a case of telling not showing. 

Olive being a

fucking virgin but also not really

I'm sorry but I'm over it and I hate that trope so much. Shut up! 

The MC's backstories, they felt very underdeveloped and it felt like Olive's trauma didn't really have much at all to do with her love story.... not that you need trauma to fall in love or whatever, but I think most MC's with a fair dose of childhood trauma at least have a main "issue" that is counterintuitive to their love story. Eg., FMC with overbearing parents feels intense perfectionist tendencies, leading to a job/career she hates and her eventual breakup (Happy Place, Emily Henry). Or FMC who was betrayed by her brother over a business deal finds it difficult to trust men, especially relating to finances (The Duke Gets Desperate, Diana Quincy). Olive's trauma was like... damn I grew up alone so I have anxiety.... oh, yeah, and like I have a crush on this guy... the two were never connected it just felt like she was talking about it just to talk. Which, like same girly pop I love yapping but I'm also not a MC in a romance novel. Idk

The professor/student relationship, I know it wasn't the worst but it also wasn't the best and the other professor and Olive becoming friends after he starts

banging her best friend and then they meet each others' parents after, like, less than a week of banging

seemed a bit inappropriate. 

Anyways, 4 stars! #adamandmeshouldbebesties #myfavoritecolorisgreentoo

PS., I will be so honest with you, this feels like a story one might write about the crush they have on their teacher idk I didn't mind it though

This was a fun book, the plot made like some sense but also not really... the trials were kinda just thrown on there, and the dystopian/fantastical setting was weak. But I enjoyed it

 https://youtu.be/sNlakFXGclw?si=s_3lddC0q9KqOBT2


iykyk

I kept wanting to DNF this about 30-60% through, but I am glad I kept going. Reasons for the almost-DNF were: confusing chronology and the narration (which I think was more about me being used to romance audiobooks with an ultra-expressive narrator, whereas this was non-fiction with the author narrating; so more a matter of I wasn't used to it than genuine dislike, and I started to appreciate her narration as the book wore on).

As other reviews mention, the author's thoughts are very scattered; I could almost never tell when an event was taking place because it seemed like everything was happening at once, COVID and a huge fire and then a bunny dying. Which, btw, definitely definitely could've done without the almost hour-long

description of the dead bunny, its body, what she did with it, how it looked, the way it smelled, what creatures were crawling over it, amongst other not-so-fun details

. I loved the sentiment of handling heavy things like death with her child, as well as the implications for her personal garden. But that was... unnecessary.

I loved the focus on history, and I'm sort of wondering if the back-and-forth/non-chronological narrative is a pointer on how it repeats itself (?). I felt I learned a lot about civil rights, including black women starting gardens during the Jim Crow -era so they could access flowers, as well as contributions to community gardens/food supply, which was really interesting. I think her revelations of history were also very cool.

I loved her mentions of motherhood, but I also adored her numerous mentions of her husband, how much he's been involved with the gardening process. I loved how they picked up each others' slack, and how they together navigated various mishaps while also raising their daughter. They made mistakes, such as dealing with Callie's anxiety, but they learned and they grew and I thought it was a beautiful exploration of adulthood and parenthood and marriage. 

This isn't typically what I would pick up (not a frequent picker-upper of nonfiction), but this was on the LAPL's recommendations list for Earth Day and I thought I would try it out and I'm very, very glad I did!