Grace
This is my new comfort read. It has been a while since my last rom-com read, I'm more into epic fantasy and getting into fantasy/sci-fi, but I am a sucker for Hallmark Movies.
The story is enjoyable, and although Liz was at times annoying I can see why. She lost her mom really young and hasn't accepted that painful fact, she wants to live up to what she thinks her mom would've wanted and that puts a lot of heavy rocks in her travel pack, and because if that she tends to overthink, have a hard time making decisions put of her comfort zone, and even try to stand out somehow just to feel like she's worth it. I find all this narrative deep and realistic, I haven't lost anyone as close thank goodness, but I was about to when my dad had a heart attack some years ago and I felt my world upside down for those couple of days of being in the ER and then having an emergency open-heart surgery the following day. Not being able to say goodbye, feeling like your favorite person has been taken away from you unfairly and especially at such a young age (I believe Liz was around 8 years old) may make you as clingy and perfectionist.
So having said that, I liked that she was annoying, it provided a good foundation for all the problems that became the plot for the book, and it is not unrealistic at all IMHO.
The development of the story took me through my teenage years, with some good laughs and some painful tears, as well as some WTF moments, and ultimately that is life as well. Yes, I admit I didn't see much character development really, spoilers ahead......
.
.
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... Liz didn't actually learn anything, other than she must follow her own path, but we weren't shown that path because by the end of the book she was starting to do that.
Wes also didn't do anything different, we were told by Liz that he was an ass but we found through the story that it was just her own perception based on mischievous acts he did when they were children, it was difficult for her to accept the fact that he had grown out of that little kid state, but he didn't develop throughout the story itself.
Joss also was kept pretty much the same from start to finish.
I don't have any problem with the character development (or lack of thereof) considering the story takes place in a matter of 2 weeks, it is hard to grow into something that different without a life-changing event happening directly to you in that span of time, but I wanted to mention it just in case you are expecting that and wonder why my 5 stars if it is lacking that point.
So this is meant to be a comfort read, where you already know who is ending up together, and you only are here to read how they overcome their challenges to make that happen, and I needed this kind of read to change air a little bit, maybe I was just in the right mood for it, but I loved it so much.
Only problem (if you can call it that) I had was Michael, like why would he suddenly look at "Little Liz" when he clearly liked Laney, and then accepted in the end that he'd give it a try after Liz confirmed Laney was onto him? Maybe there's some gap I am missing, but to go from "you should give Wes a shot" to "let's go to prom" and then "thanks for getting me Laney", in a matter of hours made me so confused.
This is not a deal-breaker, but I think it is something worth fixing for upcoming books.
This is my new comfort read. It has been a while since my last rom-com read, I'm more into epic fantasy and getting into fantasy/sci-fi, but I am a sucker for Hallmark Movies.
The story is enjoyable, and although Liz was at times annoying I can see why. She lost her mom really young and hasn't accepted that painful fact, she wants to live up to what she thinks her mom would've wanted and that puts a lot of heavy rocks in her travel pack, and because if that she tends to overthink, have a hard time making decisions put of her comfort zone, and even try to stand out somehow just to feel like she's worth it. I find all this narrative deep and realistic, I haven't lost anyone as close thank goodness, but I was about to when my dad had a heart attack some years ago and I felt my world upside down for those couple of days of being in the ER and then having an emergency open-heart surgery the following day. Not being able to say goodbye, feeling like your favorite person has been taken away from you unfairly and especially at such a young age (I believe Liz was around 8 years old) may make you as clingy and perfectionist.
So having said that, I liked that she was annoying, it provided a good foundation for all the problems that became the plot for the book, and it is not unrealistic at all IMHO.
The development of the story took me through my teenage years, with some good laughs and some painful tears, as well as some WTF moments, and ultimately that is life as well. Yes, I admit I didn't see much character development really, spoilers ahead......
.
.
.
... Liz didn't actually learn anything, other than she must follow her own path, but we weren't shown that path because by the end of the book she was starting to do that.
Wes also didn't do anything different, we were told by Liz that he was an ass but we found through the story that it was just her own perception based on mischievous acts he did when they were children, it was difficult for her to accept the fact that he had grown out of that little kid state, but he didn't develop throughout the story itself.
Joss also was kept pretty much the same from start to finish.
I don't have any problem with the character development (or lack of thereof) considering the story takes place in a matter of 2 weeks, it is hard to grow into something that different without a life-changing event happening directly to you in that span of time, but I wanted to mention it just in case you are expecting that and wonder why my 5 stars if it is lacking that point.
So this is meant to be a comfort read, where you already know who is ending up together, and you only are here to read how they overcome their challenges to make that happen, and I needed this kind of read to change air a little bit, maybe I was just in the right mood for it, but I loved it so much.
Only problem (if you can call it that) I had was Michael, like why would he suddenly look at "Little Liz" when he clearly liked Laney, and then accepted in the end that he'd give it a try after Liz confirmed Laney was onto him? Maybe there's some gap I am missing, but to go from "you should give Wes a shot" to "let's go to prom" and then "thanks for getting me Laney", in a matter of hours made me so confused.
This is not a deal-breaker, but I think it is something worth fixing for upcoming books.