I’m struggling with this section, mostly because I prefer my heroines dark and jagged and self-loathing, and Caroline and Hannah are both such stable and emotionally mature women. Moreover, important details about the foundation of Caroline and Hannah’s initial friendship, like how they enjoy similar books and both love history, are hidden and easily missed in a single sentence. There’s a serious lack of scenes and an overabundance of paragraphs of “This, this, this and this happened, and now this is happening.” Cass will write a page of filler, only for the sake of one paragraph of the proper story. The first ~40% or so is a cut-throat race of telling-over-showing to cross the finish line to a place where the meat of the teasing can begin. (This is both a writing and plotting issue, but its impact on the story is so profound I’m including it here.) My biggest gripe-and the most glaringly obnoxious problem with When You Least Expect It-is it is very obvious when Cass has written part of the book she enjoys and very, very obvious when she hasn’t. The issue is when we’re not in these moments. What I’m saying is: Cass teases the reader really, really well, and the payoff is worth it.
Caroline’s internal monologue cursing herself for her crush on Hannah is humorous and the lead up to the romance is full of Caroline’s questions of “Am I misreading this or … ?” as the two spend more quality time together. If you do: the actual scenes leading up to the romance (and the romance itself) between Caroline and Hannah are delightful. If you don’t: well, If You Least Expect It isn’t going to be the book to win you over. (But not without the steamier aspects, of course.) You either like this sort of romance or you don’t. The romance between them is sweet (lots of handholding and cuddling!), low-drama, and low stress. Caroline and Hannah are both kind, understanding, selfless people who are good at communicating with each other and get along extremely well from the get-go. You won’t want to throttle someone for a sudden bout of dumbassery. It’s gonna give you heartburn from unnecessary drama. When You Least Expect It is a specific sort of romance: it’s soft and warm and gentle. “Normal.” Caroline echoes, the word feeling decidedly not normal on her lips.
Hannah blows out a deep breath, her shoulders slumping with what she can only assume is relief. – Takes nearly half the book to get “good” – More set up for scenes than actual scenes – Good heat between the two (when the time comes) – Caroline’s sardonic inner humour on her “unfortunate” crush – Cute, sweet, supportive, feel good romance Physical violence descriptions of injuries mentions of cheating lots of food descriptions consensual and mildly explicit sex between adults.
0 kommentar(er)
