[Insert Tyra Banks here. “We were rooting for you. We were all rooting for you!”]
I just, I wanted to give this book five stars so very badly. Halfway through, I was absolutely ready to slap that five-star rating on it. And then the Miscommunication Trope came calling, and it was one of the worst examples I’ve ever seen. And I just couldn’t give it five stars anymore. I’m super sad about it.
But this book is absolutely still worth reading! Just prep yourself for that part of the story, and enjoy the hell out of the rest. Jacob and Briana are 100% two of my favorite romance novel protagonists ever. They are SO STINKING CUTE TOGETHER.
At the beginning of the book while their personal relationship was still pretty antagonistic (on Briana’s side, because she thinks Jacob put his name in for Chief, a job which should be hers), watching her slowly melt and fall for him by letter was just perfection. The way that his anxiety was portrayed rang incredibly true. And the two dueling plotlines of Briana’s brother needing an organ transplant (and Jacob providing the organ), and then her fake dating him to give him some relief from his dick brother who is now getting married to Jacob’s ex-girlfriend, just everything about that A+++.
And then AND THEN. Brianna just ASSUMES that Jacob is still in love with his ex for absolutely no good raisin*. It makes zero sense. Not to mention, she never talks to him about it. Again for no reason at all, except that the plot needed her to in order to artificially create conflict. And the thing that makes me really frustrated is that none of this was necessary! We didn’t need this aspect of the plot at all! Briana had so much other stuff to work through to provide conflict and plot. Her fear of intimacy and extreme trust issues were enough! Not to mention her PTSD around SPOILERS pregnancy END SPOILERS. Does Jacob fucking act like he’s in love with his stupid ex? He does not! Does he act like he’s falling in love with Briana! Absolutely. And she’s smart enough to have known that.
*A lil shoutout to Baxlala here. I miss her.
Anyway, I still love Abby Jimenez and I’m super pumped for her next book, but I will continue to wish for the better version of this book without that trope that almost nobody can make work properly in a story.