I just don’t like romance novels and that’s the long and short of it. Secondhand embarrassment and awkwardness makes me cringe so hard I turtle right into my t-shirt and these kind of horrifying miscommunications are a feature, not a bug, when it comes to romance novels. It’s the “wait, no, I mean, if you just, c’mon, PLEASE” that makes me want to die. Granted, I haven’t read many romance novels, but between Alisha Rai and Helen Hoang, this kind of scenario seems to be their life’s blood and I cannot handle it.
To her credit, Rai (much like Hoang) creates characters for whom this kind of miscommunication seems natural. In this case, they’ve both been traumatized by past events leaving one refusing to trust and the other assuming everyone will leave so of course they don’t communicate. But still.
So now that I’ve explained why I didn’t like it, let’s get to what this book is actually about. Our main character, Rhiannon, has invented a dating app called Crush (Tindr, but empowering!) She is looking to expand her very solid company by acquiring Matchmaker (eHarmony/Match) but hasn’t been able to reach its remaining, notoriously eccentric founder. A ghost from her fairly recent past resurfaces as the new face of Matchmaker and she has to decide just how strictly she is going to abide by her own set of dating rules (spoiler – not very). Steaminess ensues.
The good news is, this is a very sex-positive and consent-centered book and I so appreciated that. Samson, the love interest, is very keyed in to what she is and is not okay with and is graciously accepting of boundaries. It’s wonderful. The bad news is, I just don’t like romance novels.
As someone who reads a lot of romance novels, I wouldn’t say either of those things is a feature of the genre. Each author and subgenre has their own feel, and as someone who also doesn’t like secondhand embarrassment either, I feel like I can say that pretty definitively. I haven’t read any Alisha Rai, so I can’t really speak any more specifically than that. What parts of Hoang’s novels are you referring to? I’m curious.
For me it’s any time multiple chapters of strife could have been eliminated with a five minute conversation. With this book especially you could see each incident coming from a mile away and I would just internally be like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Yeah, that is my least favorite romance trope in existence, when if characters would just talk to each other, things would resolve. It’s used a lot, but it’s not omnipresent! And I tend to avoid it when I can. I promise there are romances that don’t use it. Malin or Mrs. Julien would be the best resources for recs if you want to test whether it really is the entire genre you don’t respond to, or just that one trope.
I haven’t read many romance novels (like, I can probably count them on one hand), but this is certainly the impression I have of a lot of romance stories. Maybe, for me at least, that mainly comes from movies?
I don’t know. If the conflict in your story can best be fixed by the characters getting out of their own heads for five minutes and actually listening to the other person, I don’t think it’s a very compelling story.