I’m aware I’m probably in a minority but I don’t care for nor really believe in romance. So it’s really annoying that basically every book I pick up has a surprise “love story” somewhere in there. I’m currently reading The Great Alone and relate to it in some unfortunate ways (and I really liked another book by Kristin Hannah) but for God’s sake, the relationship between Leni and Matthew is laid on so thick. Like girl, you’re 17 and he’s literally the only boy you’ve ever known, it’s not that serious. And she has to have seen where love like this gets a woman given what she grew up in. All the lines like “a girl in love isn’t smart” and saying she was desperate for him and couldn’t control herself is just…aggravating. She has so much at stake and is just being irresponsible.
If the author’s goal was to show how a boy can transform a girl from being intelligent and strong to reckless and weak, she succeeded.
It’s just annoying that there was no mention of romance in the blurb and it was tagged as historical fiction and this has happened more times than I can count this year…
by kiwipooper