Format: ebook
Release Date: June 8th, 2023
Age: Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Goodreads
Rating: 3/5 Stars
Thank you to Aria for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley – views remain my own.
This is one of those books that feel like it could have been a whole lot better if it was just that bit shorter. It’s partly due to the MC – she’s not one of those characters who is particularly a lot of fun to spend time around. It’s great for a while, but Emmy often shows herself to be selfish, judgemental, and self-obsessed. She instantly judges Mae and decides they must be rivals/professional enemies as they’re both the same casting type. Emmy has a tendency to get ideas fixed in her head, and an unwillingness to consider further information when it’s in front of her.
These could all be interesting aspects to the character, if we witnessed any growth/self-realisation a little earlier in the book. Instead, it feels like so much is crammed in right towards the end, and oh everything is fine now let’s skip off into the sunset. It doesn’t feel like any of Emmy’s relationships – with friends, family or others – aren’t in some way toxic. It’s a huge shame, because some of the book is actually really good, and when Emmy and Mae are more lightly sparring with each other, it works really well, and you can feel the chemistry between them.
At other times, both are frustrating and downright cruel to one another. There are some parts where I felt incredibly sad for Emmy, and it didn’t seem like she actually had anyone she could properly talk to. I really thought part of this was going to end up being Emmy actually confiding in Mae, and the pair offering each other real help and advice, but when it edges towards that it all kind of blows up instead.
Emmy is, evidently, kind of stubborn, and more than once goes down the “cut your nose off” route without actually seeming to learn from it. Most of this book had things I liked, but all come with a kind of ‘at times’ disclaimer. I liked her roommates, at times, until they were dismissive about the issues Emmy was facing in her clearly unhealthy toxic relationship. Her dad could have been a really sweet character, but he’s so dismissive about Emmy’s actual dreams and it goes beyond “I’m just trying to be realistic” and enters more “you have to learn the family business” controlling territory.
I was really looking forward to this book – a queer, sapphic romcom set in the world of theatre should be something I adored, but there wasn’t enough of the actual romance and actually quite little theatre stuff compared to my expectations, and overall this book could have done with being shorter and allowing the MC a bit more growth instead.
Reading Challenge
Netflix Movies & TV Shows
Prompt: Candy Jar – Enemies to Lovers
Progress: 10/24 Completed
Unwrapping Words 