byebrook's reviews
84 reviews

(Guesstimating when I stopped reading and how much I read) Legit just put it down and forgot to read it - that's the ADHD in me I guess! Really want to come back to this book and give it another go.

Read this for my YA Lit class and enjoyed it quite a bit, though the twist at the end did kind of confuse me and throw me for a loop at first - I understand it and the point of it, but still, crazy upon a first read nonetheless! Really enjoyed the story regardless of my initial confusion though!

(minor-maybe-major spoilers ahead - you have been warned)

look, i want to preface this by saying i REALLY enjoyed the first chunk of this book. I think it’s an interesting premise (yeah i am in fact a SNL lover, so this was like, the perfect book at first) and the pacing and most characters (besides Sally because, man, she could be really unlikable and not-like-other-girls at times - but respect where it’s due, she’s a powerful and strong career woman) were quite well done. it’s such an interesting place for a story like this to take place, because of the fast paced nature of live sketch comedy shows and it offers a unique set up for a story that could take place over a number of years and episodes of said show. like i give that first chunk 4 stars - so fun.

but man. that second chunk starts with the emails, and i just lost all interest. i just, truly, don’t see why it had to be set during 2020. like, i skimmed through a bit of the rest of the book and really, i think it could have worked much better as a story of these two weaving in and out of each others lives, crossing paths, until they realize their feelings and so on. i truly don’t think it being set in the global pandemic served the book well - it, in fact, made me immediately lose interest because, well, i lived through that time so very recently and i honestly don’t want to read a romance novel set during that time now or in the near future (and, probably, not ever). like i really believe this book could have been 5 stars for me in another life, if only it went down slightly different path, one that felt less - and this isn’t the right word but bare with me until i can find the right one to edit this review with - cringey.

i did, genuinely, enjoy that first chunk, but sadly, the rest just didn’t do it for me - which sucks because, again, as an SNL and rom-com fan, this novel should have been perfect for me. 

I just did not vibe with this book. I don’t mind stream of consciousness stories in the vein of Sally Rooney - which this story definitely feels likes it’s trying to be a Sally Rooney book - but I do hate the Sally Rooney style of dialogue that is growing popular in contemporary literature and is present in this book (please… just use quotes. It can get hard to follow those dense dialogue paragraphs). 

I thought the writing itself was good, the prose was well-written and I found a few nuggets of wisdom inside this book. I think, mostly, I didn’t love the story because I just found it hard to connect with the characters in this story - they just. they all kind of suck. like, I like stories about messy young folks trying to figure out their lives - I’m doing the same thing in my own life - but these folks are just, like, not likeable in the slightest. I was almost relieved when I made it to the end because I didn’t have to deal with them anymore.