altlovesbooks
I'm gonna let you guys in on a little secret, but you have to promise not to tell anyone. I actually liked this romance book. It's not without flaws, but in a book club where I've read several romances now where the people felt like over-the-top caricatures of how real people are, the fact that the two main characters felt like actual people was refreshing.
Xavier is a vet in Minnesota who treats a kitten owned by Samantha, a mustard social media manager on her way back to California. There's a bit of love-at-first-sight (exaggeration, they're both head over heels almost immediately), the two have an epic first date, and Samantha returns to California to help her family take care of her ailing mother, leaving both sad and pining for a relationship that never took off. But as these things happen, Xavier meets her in California, and despite Samantha's reluctance, the two start hesitantly exploring a long distance relationship. Unfortunately things are expensive and complicated, and Samantha's mother is getting worse, leaving the two trying to figure out how to make this relationship work.
I loved the setup and the beginning of this book. Two people who felt like people, trying to make a long distance relationship work out. Maybe I'm biased here, because that's how my husband and I started out, but I loved this. I don't have enough first-hand experience with dementia to know if it was handled properly, but I'm judging from the other reviews that it was, which I also enjoyed. There's some really sad/touching moments here that made me feel things.
I guess what I didn't like was that the middle of the book felt like the same points on repeat. Xavier bankrupting himself (both monetarily and in energy) to make these once-in-a-few-months meet ups work. Samantha mentally saying this will never work, and then immediately forgetting all about that during the next meet up. Samantha's mom in decline, but none of the family want to actually help except Samantha. Around and around with these same points without any real progress until the last 10% of the book or so. All of these points are valid and relevant and smart to consider, but it didn't seem like it moved the book forward any having to rehash them so much. It made the middle part feel a bit of a drag.
I also feel like, maybe, there were other options to explore other than either a) putting mom in a home that will clearly abuse her, or b) keeping mom at home and the entire family burns out. There's plenty of resources out there for dementia care, and not all of them are dirty, diseased, unkempt, neglectful homes. Exploring any of the other avenues (in-home nurse care, monetary/professional resources for family members, etc) may have given Samantha a little freedom for the two of them to feel more comfortable about their relationship.
Finally, and this is incredibly minor, the constant reference to ACOTAR was pure pandering to romance readers. Like, "eh? eh? eh? Here's this book you all like, don't you love this reference???". C'mon.
Still, of the romance books I've had to read for my library's book club, this has been my favorite so far.
I'm gonna let you guys in on a little secret, but you have to promise not to tell anyone. I actually liked this romance book. It's not without flaws, but in a book club where I've read several romances now where the people felt like over-the-top caricatures of how real people are, the fact that the two main characters felt like actual people was refreshing.
Xavier is a vet in Minnesota who treats a kitten owned by Samantha, a mustard social media manager on her way back to California. There's a bit of love-at-first-sight (exaggeration, they're both head over heels almost immediately), the two have an epic first date, and Samantha returns to California to help her family take care of her ailing mother, leaving both sad and pining for a relationship that never took off. But as these things happen, Xavier meets her in California, and despite Samantha's reluctance, the two start hesitantly exploring a long distance relationship. Unfortunately things are expensive and complicated, and Samantha's mother is getting worse, leaving the two trying to figure out how to make this relationship work.
I loved the setup and the beginning of this book. Two people who felt like people, trying to make a long distance relationship work out. Maybe I'm biased here, because that's how my husband and I started out, but I loved this. I don't have enough first-hand experience with dementia to know if it was handled properly, but I'm judging from the other reviews that it was, which I also enjoyed. There's some really sad/touching moments here that made me feel things.
I guess what I didn't like was that the middle of the book felt like the same points on repeat. Xavier bankrupting himself (both monetarily and in energy) to make these once-in-a-few-months meet ups work. Samantha mentally saying this will never work, and then immediately forgetting all about that during the next meet up. Samantha's mom in decline, but none of the family want to actually help except Samantha. Around and around with these same points without any real progress until the last 10% of the book or so. All of these points are valid and relevant and smart to consider, but it didn't seem like it moved the book forward any having to rehash them so much. It made the middle part feel a bit of a drag.
I also feel like, maybe, there were other options to explore other than either a) putting mom in a home that will clearly abuse her, or b) keeping mom at home and the entire family burns out. There's plenty of resources out there for dementia care, and not all of them are dirty, diseased, unkempt, neglectful homes. Exploring any of the other avenues (in-home nurse care, monetary/professional resources for family members, etc) may have given Samantha a little freedom for the two of them to feel more comfortable about their relationship.
Finally, and this is incredibly minor, the constant reference to ACOTAR was pure pandering to romance readers. Like, "eh? eh? eh? Here's this book you all like, don't you love this reference???". C'mon.
Still, of the romance books I've had to read for my library's book club, this has been my favorite so far.