I was definitely excited when I read the summary for this book; a modern romance featuring the wedding of a lesbian couple?! Yes, please. I am craving a lot more diverse and realistically representative fiction in my life lately, and this seemed like a great option. It was suggested to me in one of my book services as a fun summer read. Well damn. I’m sorry to say it wasn’t fun at all.
Not all of my books have to be fun, but good lord, lemme tell you that I’ve needed some escape lately. As a registered nurse in the grand ol’ USA during a pandemic…. relaxation and escapism are important parts of my self care routine. So, I was a bit disappointed to begin this novel and immediately have beef with every one of its characters. This is not a fun summer romance with a lil social drama peppered in… It’s a full-on WASPY cringefest, with despicable and unlikable characters who are mostly whiny privileged white people who are utterly un-relatable unless you grew up with some level of money completely foreign to me. Maybe a certain crowd finds this darkly funny, but I found it awkward as hell.
I could deep dive into complex thoughts about why I disliked so many parts of it… but my core feeling is that it felt terribly meek and disempowering. The main character was a doormat who SORT of learned to stand up for herself by the end… but the whole thing read like some rich, childish woman’s idea of funny… or maybe her own therapeutic working-through of some issues with her family? Personally, the family politics were so fraught that the story was the opposite of relaxing or escape for me.
I am surprised I finished it, as I’ve given myself full permission to quit books when they’re not what I need at the moment. I just kept hoping the story and characters and author would redeem themselves. But that never really happened. This one melted under the hot, hot summer sun of my contempt.