Thank you to Frances for giving me a copy of her book. 

I was so excited when I heard about this book. A nonbinary and an ace main character in a romance novel? I sounded like heaven. Yet, I didn’t enjoy it all that much. It left me feeling lacklustre most of the time. 
Also as a personal aspect, identifying as both of those labels, Maeve and Loncey’s experiences were different to my own, so sadly it missed that piece of representation for me personally. But that is always a risk with these identities since they’re such a broad spectrum. 

The book is quite hypocritical. It keeps stating how Maeve doesn’t want her sexuality to always be the point, doesn’t want to keep explaining her sexuality, how she doesn’t want to make it this big important thing in this sex obsessed world, which is a feeling I heavily related with. But guess what? That exactly what the book did. It almost felt like an educational book on asexuality with all the conversations on what it is and is not. Most of Maeve’s characterisation and development is about her insecurities about being ace. I wouldn’t even be so bothered about it if the book didn’t also make a point out of how annoying that can be. 

The characters were kind of boring. I just felt little need to get to know them. And that is fatal in contemporary romance because there really isn’t that much else going on. I had this moment of irony when Maeve said that her conversation with Loncey are so interesting and the things they have to say are so insightful. They felt like basic stuff to me that really wasn’t all that interesting and just made it appear as if Maeve is very easy to impress. 

Then there is their relationship. Their banter is quite fun. Yet I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that it felt a bit cheap. That the only reason Maeve is falling Loncey is that they are the first person to treat her with some basic respect. That is too low of a bar for me to think that they are incredible for each other. It makes it more sad than romantic. Then there is also the issue with their terrible communication. I was getting so frustrated.  Especially because they both are educated on the topic and know how to have healthier and better relationships. Yet, throughout this book, they were incapable of listening to their own advice. 

When I saw how thick the book was I thought, well, a lot of things will happen in it. But that isn’t the case. The writing style is slow and descriptive. It feels like we’re going along in real time. The problem is, the things that are happening really aren’t interesting enough for that. At times I felt the author just needed to have them do things so they did some random thing that had very little point to it. Quite frankly, I come out of this book thinking if it were around 300-350 pages I would have been able to actually enjoy it. Now it felt like I was waiting around for two characters I don’t really care about to get their shit together. 

Something I personally hate is when in a contemporary book someone really believes in astrology. I never feel like all that much of a scientist but damn this book made me want to rant about how much rubbish it is. It would be different if Loncey basically just used it for their own spirituality to feel better, but they took it too seriously, even though they appear to have basic knowledge about science. The scientist in me wasn’t happy. 

I can appreciate the book for what it tried to do but I don’t think it was particularly successful in doing it.