Second First Impressions

I am sad to say that I really struggled with this book. I don't know if subconsciously my mind was expecting another THG or maybe if I had never read THG in the first place and read SFI first, maybe I would have liked it better. I just couldn't get into it but because I loved THG so much, I wanted to keep going. It finally picked up around the 80% mark but unfortunately by that point, it was too late to save the book for me. I'm beginning to think The Hating Game was a fluke but I really hope not. Also I really wish authors would stop making their characters dress like old ladies.

”I prayed for peace, quiet, certainty. And it's you. I'm in love with you.”Based on the reviews I have seen I think I am about to have an unpopular opinion but I enjoyed this way more than I did The Hating Game.I found this book so entertaining and silly and just an overall good laugh. It gave me the found family trope that I absolutely live for.Were some parts cringey? Yes. Were some parts predictable? Yes. But I laughed and that's what I was looking for when I went into this.I couldn't help but love the Parlonis and Teddy's interactions. The things she would make him do and he just took it like a champ had me giggling because of how silly and out there it was. The humour of it and Teddy's wit and banter in general is what made me enjoy this as much as I did.Something that I loved about this story was how supportive Ruthie and Teddy were towards one another. They never asked for the other to change anything about themselves. Even though I felt that the romance started off too quickly to my liking, I felt as if the romance between the two was very sweet and genuine.This was the perfect definition of a rom-com.

Sadly, I was never invested in Second First Impressions.
I disliked Teddy and Ruthie. Both characters lacked depth and neither of them had any growth IMO. The reason Ruthie lived her life like she did felt flat and didn't make any sense. Being inside Ruthie's head was cringey and the way she thought about Teddy was awkward. There was no chemistry and the relationship felt forced. There were a few interesting, funny secondary characters and that was it.
My dislike of the main characters made it tough to keep listening to the audiobook. I put it off for more than a month, thinking that maybe I wasn't in the right mood for it, but after I got back to it I felt the same way. Can't believe I finished it.
This one didn't work for me.