Given the state of the world (and all of the disturbing books that I read in a row), I decided it would be a good idea to try out some happy, new adult romance books. I’m highly critical of this genre because I think it’s important that as a society, we don’t lure young women and men into romanticizing abusive relationships. Unfortunately, many books in this genre do just that. I’m mentioning this as a disclaimer or warning, since my reviews below might be a tad nit-picky.
First up is The Hating Game by Sally Thorne. I picked this one because it’s going to be a movie, and it didn’t seem too sexist. It’s about two coworkers who despise one another and things become even more tense when they are up for the same promotion. This was a fun and sweet book! It felt like a warm hug. I think that the author created an original and funny female lead, which is what made me really like this one. The writing kept me engaged and I don’t recall anything too cringe-worthy (this genre is notorious for corny lines). However, there were some small issues that I had. There was a lot of objectification of the male lead. I mean, every time he appears in the book, there is a detailed description about how hot and gorgeous he is and the girl ogles him. He even asks the girl to stop at one point, and she continues to do it throughout the remainder of the book. I also thought that things at the end got a little weird…Joe from You weird. I don’t know if this counts as a spoiler, but you find out that the guy had intentionally painted his bedroom the color of the girl’s eyes…before they were romantically involved. I would run. However, other than those issues, I liked this book! 4 stars
Next, I read Meet Cute by Helena Hunting. This one was rough. It was so painful that I almost stopped reading it. It’s about a woman who goes to law school with her TV celebrity crush, ends up hating him, and then runs into him again years later. When they reunite, he is trying to keep custody of his 13-year-old sister, and she is in charge of his sister’s trust fund. This somehow causes them to spend a ton of time together. The writing is lazy and the dialogue sounds unnatural, which made this difficult to keep picking up. When it wasn’t boring me, it was making me cringe. Those aren’t great qualities in a book. I gave this 2 stars on goodreads, but I think I am taking one of those back. 1/5 stars. Do not recommend.
Last, but not least, I read Before We Were Strangers by Renee Carlino. This one is about a Craigslist missed connection post that reunites two people after they were separated 15 years ago. I absolutely loved this book and I read it in one night. It is beautifully written, and has music interwoven throughout the plot of the story. I love it when a book mentions the song that is playing, and this author is excellent at naturally including a soundtrack to her stories. This book also captures what it feels like to fall in love with New York City, which was honestly my favorite part about it. The love story between the two characters is sweet, and I think that both characters were fleshed out very well. The only part I wasn’t crazy about was the ending…I felt it was a bit lame and had a different tone from the rest of the book. Overall, I highly recommend this. 5/5 stars.
