I wanted this book to be something other than it was. It was less a guide and more of a collection of ramblings. Very beautifully written ramblings, but nevertheless not what I was hoping for.

There were glimpses of brilliance in this but unfortunately I just found it too much of a slog to read for such small rewards. I appreciated the portrayal of youth and the backdrop of the UK in the 80s, but there was no connection to the characters for me. I empathised with Jimmy to some extent but I've seen comments from other reviewers that mention how much we are *told* about Tully rather than being shown, and I completely agree.

I'm not usually one for fake-dating romances but I could at least get on board with the premise of this one, and I enjoyed the German Christmas setting. But I could not get on at all with Evie. I get her cold-hearted persona is meant to be understood as her defense mechanism, but from the get go with Duke she's just mean, and even when she recognises he's hurt by several things she has said/done, she doesn't apologise. Duke is often annoying and certainly flawed, but I understand where he's coming from a lot more.

I wasn't as hooked as I was expecting to be with this one, and found myself struggling to want to pick it back up again

I really wanted to love this book, and indeed on paper it seemed I would, but I have tried multiple times to get into it and every time I've felt something was missing. I'm finding it difficult to grasp what the world is like and nothing that has happened so far has gripped me so that I feel the need to read on and find out what happens. 

I can imagine returning to this one in the future but for now the pacing is just too sluggish for my interest to be held. I love the sound of the world and the West African myth woven into the story, but so much time is being spent on internal monologues that aren't really adding new dimensions to the characters and I feel that these come at the expense of propelling the plot forward.