frances_frances's reviews
288 reviews

 The more I think about this book, the more problems I have with it. In a nutshell, I found it to be formulaic, anticlimactic, poorly written, and weirdly juvenile in its language and point of view. I have a lot of random thoughts so here's a semi-organized list:

THE CHARACTERS 
* Very two dimensional and generally uninteresting
* Lacked unique/authentic qualities, felt  like generic stand-ins for real people
* Who even is Kate? Or Alex? A worried widow who's guilty about dating again, and a surly teenager who's mad at her mom for moving them. Overdone, generic.
* What was the point of Joe? I was waiting for him to end up being a "bad guy" or have some kind of twist. Nope. He's just the perfect love interest for Kate - an attractive, rich, single man with a teenage son. Joe doesn't add to the tension or suspense in this "thriller".  
* Leita is presented as a fat, physically repugnant busybody with poor hygiene and possible untreated mental health issues. We don't need another character who's coded as unlikable via the size of their body or mental state. Using fatness as a character flaw is not only lazy writing, it's harmful. The scene where Kate meets Leita and Taylor in the coffee shop was a perfect example. Kate and Taylor are having a serious discussion while Leita is greedily eyeing the pastries. 
GENRE
* This is a drama, not a thriller. There's little suspense or thrill because we pretty much know the who, what, when, where, and why early on. The focus of the book is on social drama and interpersonal relationships. 
* The teen girl drama/bullying trope is used a LOT. If you're gonna go with this trope, you need to bring something new to the table.
WRITING
* This book felt juvenile in perspective and amateur as far as the quality of the writing.
* The dialogue doesn't flow and the characters say things that people don't in real life. 
* There's a lot of telling rather than showing
* The conversation Kate and Joe have at the end felt forced. It was like an exchange a child and caregiver might have.
* The way child sex abuse is used and handled was weird and problematic. The assault is used as a plot device to serve Alex's story. It was treated, by both characters and writer, with a strange distance. It felt amateur.

I could go on, but these are my biggest complaints.

I enjoyed this book for what it was: a slice of life story about navigating interpersonal relationships, trauma, and grief. It was a quick, easy read but might have worked better as a short story. The events leading up to the ending kinda fizzled rather than kept building. The ending itself was a bit anticlimactic, but it felt authentic. A lot of the Gibson and Shelby's realizations felt a bit forced or too easy. Solid book but nothing to write home about. 

I did like how Shelby's grief and anxiety was written. It felt real and relatable. And the points raised about the utility of lying were interesting to consider. 

This book wasn't for me. The humor was punny and unoriginal. Just felt like cheesy newspaper comic jokes. I also wasn't into the millennial #girlboss feminism (I say this as a millennial myself). They mention trans women but not in any meaningful way. I like the concept of a matriarchal post apocalyptic world, but not the execution or final product.

I still can't believe this book came out in 2019. The premise is tired and overdone (an unlucky in love British 20 something who is supposed to be relatable to all readers which makes her flat and boring). 
The way queerness was talked about was truly wild. More, tired tropes and clichés. The stereotypes about queerness were not only boring but also just weird. It felt like it was written 20 years ago.
The humor was cheesy and felt like it was more for straight readers than queer ones. Really, this whole book feels like an out of touch straight woman's attempt at quirky queer fiction (yes I know Kate Davies is actually queer). 

This is one of my favorite reads of the year. The color illustrations were amazing and the story was powerful and unsettling. On my first read through, I kinda took everything that was happening at face value, until I got to the end and then had to reassess everything I thought was true/real. This is a book that gets better with each read. More details are revealed and the subtle messages in the imagery become increasingly clear. I've seen comparisons to The Yellow Wallpaper and Rebecca and find those perspectives really compelling. 

Abby was written so authentically and her ongoing struggle to simply exist was relatable. She is dissatisfied with heteronormativity but cannot fully allow herself to imagine other possibilities. Her visions of Sheila are forcing her to confront herself and her choices. And they're also pulling her father away from reality and stability. 

This book kept me engaged and had a few interesting things to say, but overall it didn't live up to the hype for me.