(maybe a chance for minor/non-specific spoilers ahead…tread lightly)

reviewing this is going to be harder than usual for me. i was constantly liking and getting really into the novel and then quickly falling out with it. i don’t know if to attribute it to my mood reading, its pacing, or maybe my taste in novel changing with time.

i will say that i did really enjoy the flip in narrator! i’ve never read a romance novel where we were in the mmc’s head… and it was actually really interesting! henri as a character overall i really loved (though i wanted to toss him against a wall for his actions toward the end of the book). he was charming but not in an obnoxious way, which i think is always a thin line for some books and authors. he also has the right level of stupid for his age and circumstance.

i really enjoyed his conflicts! of course on the side of uni and romance, but i think most of all, his relationship with his parents, most of all his father. it really worked with me and resonated. i don’t want to give spoilers but the conversation that he and his father have towards the end of the book made me genuinely emotional. i didn’t realize that they were words that i wanted to hear during my college app process (i’m now two years into uni). i mean i wasn’t having those big stakes of applying to an ivy, but to hear a parent who seemingly expects their over achiever to over achieve say those words with such passion was really !! just wow for me.

on to the lovely corinne! she was just lovely start to finish. like its not her fault no one was ready to match her freak…it didn’t make her a freak. i didn’t really have many notes on her character, because i think when most other books have characters of this type they make them very deeply insecure about who they are. but cori really didn’t have that. she was very confident in who she was (though it might be possible i could be misremembering the beginning of the novel and the reasons as to why she wants to start all this in the first place haha - like i said i had a hard time keeping a consistent interest in the novel).

the romance was also really good, though i didn’t expect it to come the way it did. they were very cutie with each other, and it was kind of a blast to be in henri’s head as he noticed the soft spot he seemed to have corinne (and how it was actually more than just friendly teehee).

oh! also i really liked ming. i don’t really have more to add other than i liked having him around as a third wheel… okay that’s all i have to say on him lmao.

overall. i think its worth giving a shot. i mean i liked it at parts so i can’t say its a waste of time because it most definitely isn’t. i first started reading it because i wanted a refresher from books with smut scenes, and this worked for that. i will, however, note that one might like it more if they are more in the mood for a highschool romance, which it turns out was not in the cards for me this time ‘round. i’d say give it a shot if the bio looks interesting, because hey! why not, right!

xoxo, k