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A review by minnaper
French Pressed Love by M.C. Hutson
3.0
I've let the book marinate for almost 24 hours. I have very mixed feelings about it. For most of the book, up until around 80% mark, I was going to rate it with 5 stars. Then it dropped to 4 and quickly to 3-3.5. There are some minor spoiler below.
Jordan is an interesting main character. I really liked her although I'm not a fan of her one night stands. She feels real in every way. There's toxic family relationships, dead parent, asshole ex, past trauma, professional setbacks... There are similarities in her trauma to Jess's from L.A. Metro by RJ Nolan. I think French Pressed Love could have and should have discussed and processed the issues a bit more and at least start the healing process (like L.A. Metro did). If that was the only issue I had with the book, it wouldn't have mattered that much but with all the rest it has an effect on the overall rating. Jordan still is worth at least 4 stars as a main character.
I also liked Noémie (up until the rating started to drop). She's one of those characters that you first have to dislike and slowly start to understand and eventually love. She could have been a 5-star love interest. For me, the *big reveal* was off putting and ruined the novel and the character for me. She's toxic. She has toxic family, asshole ex, and asshole brother, but those don't give her any excuses to be the way she is. Jordan deserves better.
I think Jordan and Noémie would fit well, even great together. They could have had an epic romance but the story took the wrong turn for me. I'm almost mad about how the story evolved. There were so many scenes and bits in this slow burn romance that made my heart ache and tremble. I felt their pining and yearning in my bones. Yes, I'm mad how the story crumbled after the slow burn turned to flames.
Like said, I have mixed feelings. The novel is well written and the slow burn is delicious. The first 80% are really good, parts of it even great. There are one or two almost unnecessary side plots, like the François plot, that could have either been left out or would have needed more pages or refining. Those weren't the cause for the lower rating, though.
The *big reveal* or conflict that caused the 3rd act breakup was cheap and immature. In my opinion, it was from another story all together. It just didn't fit well with the first 80%. The conflict could have been smaller or more about their insecurities and feelings instead being this big game. The ending could have been the same even with different reason for the breakup. I'm still mad.
Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for providing the free ARC of the book.
Jordan is an interesting main character. I really liked her although I'm not a fan of her one night stands. She feels real in every way. There's toxic family relationships, dead parent, asshole ex, past trauma, professional setbacks... There are similarities in her trauma to Jess's from L.A. Metro by RJ Nolan. I think French Pressed Love could have and should have discussed and processed the issues a bit more and at least start the healing process (like L.A. Metro did). If that was the only issue I had with the book, it wouldn't have mattered that much but with all the rest it has an effect on the overall rating. Jordan still is worth at least 4 stars as a main character.
I also liked Noémie (up until the rating started to drop). She's one of those characters that you first have to dislike and slowly start to understand and eventually love. She could have been a 5-star love interest. For me, the *big reveal* was off putting and ruined the novel and the character for me. She's toxic. She has toxic family, asshole ex, and asshole brother, but those don't give her any excuses to be the way she is. Jordan deserves better.
I think Jordan and Noémie would fit well, even great together. They could have had an epic romance but the story took the wrong turn for me. I'm almost mad about how the story evolved. There were so many scenes and bits in this slow burn romance that made my heart ache and tremble. I felt their pining and yearning in my bones. Yes, I'm mad how the story crumbled after the slow burn turned to flames.
Like said, I have mixed feelings. The novel is well written and the slow burn is delicious. The first 80% are really good, parts of it even great. There are one or two almost unnecessary side plots, like the François plot, that could have either been left out or would have needed more pages or refining. Those weren't the cause for the lower rating, though.
The *big reveal* or conflict that caused the 3rd act breakup was cheap and immature. In my opinion, it was from another story all together. It just didn't fit well with the first 80%. The conflict could have been smaller or more about their insecurities and feelings instead being this big game. The ending could have been the same even with different reason for the breakup. I'm still mad.
Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for providing the free ARC of the book.