Ratings:
Star Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
If This Book Was a Movie Rating: R
Review:
I AM MAD. I NEED TO RANT.
the story itself had such an interesting premise, and i really wanted to love it, but WAY TOO MANY PROBLEMATIC THINGS HAPPENED for me to properly enjoy it.
LET US START WITH THE PLOT SHALL WE (DON’T WORRY NO SPOILERS)
November 9.
The day before Fallon’s move from Los Angeles to New York.
The anniversary of the fire that horribly burned and scarred Fallon’s entire left side. The fire that caused her to lose her role as the lead in a hit TV show and ruined her dreams of becoming an star actress.
So today’s already a tense day, even without a lunch with her acting coach father, the man who gave up on his daughter as soon as the fire changed her face.
Fallon’s father has never helped her wrecked self-confidence, and today is no different. He throws thinly veiled insults at her, instituting that she could never get a role on Broadway with scars like hers.
But then Fallon suddenly feels a guy’s arm around her shoulders and hears a voice saying, “Sorry baby, the traffic was terrible today.”
This guy introduces himself as Ben, an aspiring novelist and Fallon’s boyfriend that she has forgotten to mention until this very moment..
A shocked Fallon plays along, and her dad soon leaves after a verbal fight with Ben.
Ben and Fallon start talking, and quickly find themselves feeling a strong mutual attraction. While at Fallon’s place (so she can pack), they decide that they want to meet up again, but Fallon doesn’t want the stress of a relationship put on her “fresh start” in New York. They decide on something rather unconventional: they block each other on all social medias and agree to meet up in the same place every year for exactly one day: November 9.
okay. THAT’S A COOL PREMISE.
but honey, the EXECUTION was WAYYYYY off.
Fallon was probably the best character in this entire bloody novel. Even though she made some stupid decisions, she had dreams, goals, and ambitions, and she didn’t want a guy to get all swept up into it. She wanted to be able to figure her own life own FIRST and THEN get into a relationship. THAT’S ACTUALLY SUCH A HEALTHY MINDSET WAHT.
In addition, I absolutely ADORED seeing a female protagonist who had to deal with body insecurities and low self-confidence.
lol that sounds so bad.
I mean that the mere fact that Fallon was a heroine who struggles with actual issues and insecurities and who wasn’t this perfectly strong baddie made her feel so much more real and relatable.
idk that just made me happy.
ig the only two actual reasons why I didn’t rate this one star was because the writing was gorgeous (just didn’t like what was being written lol) and because Fallon and the supporting characters were a blast.
So Fallon = good.
alright. now we get to Ben.
at the very start of the book, I liked Ben. Ben was cute. Ben was sweet. Ben was 👍
But then the gaslighting, Ben.
that was disgusting.
Basically, when Ben and Fallon go back to Fallon’s apartment that first November 9 (the book is broken up into sixish November 9s), Ben wants Fallon to wear a different dress for dinner that night, one that shows the burned skin on her chest and arms.
then this is what happens:
I shove the dress back at him. “I don’t want to wear that, I want to wear this.”
THAT IS A TOTALLY VALID REACTION. BEING BURNED IN A FIRE IS A TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE.
“No,” he says. “I’m paying for dinner, so I get to choose what to stare at while we eat.”
WHAT WAS THAT BEN. WHAT THE &%^# WAS THAT.
keep in mind, at this point they’ve known each other for about FIVE BLOODY HOURS.
SHUT UP BEN. ALMOST NO ONE EVER HAS A PLACE TO TELL SOMEONE THAT BUT THAT SOMEONE IS MOST ESPECIALLY NOT YOU.
and then he undressed Fallon.
to put the dress he wanted on her.
AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO HATED THAT EW UGH NO.
NEXT. that absolute INSTALOVE.
"You know how much I dislike insta-love."
"Oh, it was still insta-love," I tell her. "But ours is legit."
Really.
you saw that it was instalove, and YOU STILL DIDN’T CONSIDER YOU MIGHT BE GOING TOO FAST.
case in point: 12 hours into their not-a-relationship, and they’ve already gone all the way.
REALLY.
AND HOW DO Y’ALL STILL REMEMBER EACH OTHER WHEN YOU ONLY SEE EACH OTHER ONE BLOODY DAY A YEAR.
there were many other very much worse and more problematic things in the last half of the book, but i DID make a no spoilers promise so i will stick with it
-_-
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Recommendations That Are Better Than This Book:
Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
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