Paula Nguyen’s Reviews > Save the Date > Status Update

It was also mega unsatisfying that she didn't even officially end up with Bill in the end (Bill? Really?); obviously it was implied that they liked each other in the end but they didn't even start dating or freaking KISS like ??? excuse me I want the romance why did it just turn into a sappy family drama; honestly the whole thing was misleading - my fault for not looking into the synopsis before reading I guess

Sioban wasn't even in the story at all; she was just there so we didn't think Charlie had no friends; but the whole time it was just phone calls about stuff that was happening it seemed a tiny bit pointless; I didn't even know this author was the one who wrote Since You've Been Gone but it definitely makes sense it has similar basic ya romance vibes; this one was more fun because they had more interesting characters

Her jerk brother Mike sucked but a lot of the characters were like that; it was really obvious that she was gonna learn a lesson about how her family wasn't as perfect as she thought it was; maybe it's just because I'm seeing it from an outsider perspective but I think it just seemed really obvious that they had some issues and the token diverse BFF really should have said something about it she seems observant

Most of this book was just a bunch of crazy wedding drama with the main girl Charlie running around and having fun / going through drama with her family and the two guys that are 'pining' over her; It was entertaining but definitely got kind of old after the halfway mark; the divorce was totally unexpected (a little TOO unexpected if you ask me) it was just there for dramatic effect / shocking climax

The themes about family and letting go of the idealized version you make of them when you're a kid (which I feel like doesn't happen that often but ogie) were SO forced it was definitely a showing and not telling kind of thing; she just spelled out all the life lessons she learned throughout the book near the end and ? you don't need to restate it I think we got the message or should be able to interpret it thanks :/

I wouldn't even say they matched very well they had a lot of short conversations that were supposed to be really funny and charming im sure but it was just a lot of forced quirky conversation; the side love interest Jesse was obviously not going to work out honestly he was kind of irrelevant; this story seems to be more about family than romance which I wish I knew before starting but I still enjoyed it

I guess the beginning was kind of fun but I'm genuinely annoyed at how badly the romance was developed; she was definitely not very subtle when trying to mix in the 'chemistry' between the love interests; people around her would just TELL her that Bill liked her and she would be like 'nah' and she slowly started to think about him more often it just wasn't very smooth

I’m having a good time.

so refreshing ~💧 ✨