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64% mark is the first time the couple has a conversation that isn’t completely superficial 🧐

I’m at the halfway mark and there’s still literally no depth to this story at all.

Blake is such a fucking dolt.

Somehow, this is even worse than I expected. Elle Kennedy is not a masterful writer, but she writes nice banter and her stories zip along. Sarina Bowen is better, and while her stories are always fairly tame, there’s always a story and somebody to root for. I’m bored out of my mind right now with this particular book.

Genuinely hope the writers give Blake more to work with because he is ... dumb as a rock.

Jesus fuck this book is bleak. Beautifully written, but so bleak.

It’s very hard for me to suspend my disbelief and accept that after YEARS of bullying that she’ll just accept that he did it out of jealousy and move on without holding much against him. I hate this spinelessness. I have still yet to find a bully romance that I truly believe the logic in. I’m sure it’s out there somewhere..

Ugh I wish Tate would stand her ground more. And the logic in this book isn’t working. I knew that people’s love of this book wouldn’t match mine—these books become dated very quickly—but I still expected better.

This author also has an issue with using slurs against other female characters a lot—slut, tramp, etc. :/

Tate’s best friend really sucks as a best friend.

Why the drama? 🧐

Hero is super territorial, do not like 🧐

Aly Martinez writes really, really good childhood beginnings for her friends-to-lovers stories. See: Release.

Emma Scott is really the only romance writer who makes me sob.

Ugh Weston <3

Oh god Weston 😭 it’s gonna be frustrating to see Weston perfectly execute Connor’s dating life for him while Weston gets no credit 😭😭

This fake wedding trope is so unnecessary at this point. This book is turning out to be so disappointing 😪

These people are so freaking immature. It’s like reading a hijinks-y rom com from the aughts 🙄🙄🙄

It’s really not fun when the hero always has the upper hand in the dynamic.

The games these people play are ... immature and childish.

I like this so far. Reading it does make me wish that more authors wrote heroines who aren’t constantly the ones going, “I wish I had a quippy comment to make” in response to an asshole hero. Why are heroines always the ones that are the messes, getting schooled in barbed conversations with an adversary?

Connell’s mother for president.

Sally Rooney writes as someone who’s observant of the real world, and whose brain is creative and imaginative of what it could be and isn’t.

Ughhhhh I hope this book doesn’t let me down because it’s so well-written so far. So many good lines.

I really like this heroine but her immense insecurity is getting to me a bit. Jesus.

Holy crap so good.

The banter is so great!

This book is moving along nicely. Dialogue and internal monologues are quite zippy, me gusta!

Maybe Charlie doesn’t need either one of these bastards -_-

I’m sure we’ll get there eventually, but I really need to know why the heroine feels the need to tamp down residual anger she feels about her husband having cheated on her. Why she forgave him. And why she feels guilty about establishing a connection with someone new.