Oh no! Shrunkation awakened my inner nerd. Let me do a quick tldr before I dive into my appreciation for Janine Amesta’s craft. Shrunkation is fun and funny. One of my favorite things in romance is when an author takes a bananas plot and uses it to dive into very real relationship dynamics. This is a marriage in trouble romance in which a desperate attempt at a romantic getaway turns into a desperate attempt to survive.
On to the nerdery!
This review is a bit of a love letter to two different people, Janine Amesta, for writing romances that bring me joy, and Weekend Reader (weekendreader_), whose dives into the romance genre always give me a lot to think about. Weekend Reader’s posts on the Happily Ever After/Happy For Now (HEA/HFN) element of romance have been swimming around in my brain, and Shrunkation sparked some of those thoughts.
Weekend Reader asserts that good sex and saying “I love you” aren’t sufficient for a believable HEA/HFN. I kept that in mind as I started reading Shrunkation. Trey and Cat have already fallen in love and committed to each other, but it wasn’t enough. Trey loves his wife and wants to mend his marriage. Cat isn’t sure she wants to stay married (also not sure that she wants a divorce), but she does know she doesn’t have the emotional energy to fix their relationship. They blew past their HFN and now something fundamental needs to change for us to believe in a new one for them.
One of the elements Weekend Reader looks at is how the lovers treat each other – who is doing the emotional labor? Another reviewer called Trey “rather gormless,” which isn’t a bad description of him at the start of the book. He has made his wife mad and he doesn’t know how to fix it beyond an apology and attempts at seduction. Cat can’t let go of her anger.
There’s a moment that becomes the before and after point, and it isn’t when the unethical tech bro billionaire shrinks them. It’s the moment when Trey realizes what he hasn’t been doing in their marriage. He has always thought Cat is amazing. When he realizes that standing back and admiring his wife isn’t actually an act of care, the whole tenor of the book shifts. He becomes more competent. Cat is able to remember why she fell in love with him. For the rest of the book, they are still fighting for their lives and working on their marriage, but as an active team. When Trey takes on his share of the emotional and mental labor, the HEA becomes believable.
Partners who take care of each other is one of the hallmarks of a Janine Amesta romance. Her main characters don’t just support their lover’s dreams, they find ways for those dreams to flourish. Previous books prove that she writes great dialogue and builds emotional growth, but Shrunkation demonstrates a real skill for writing action.
I received this as an advance reader copy from the author. For transparency I need to say that I have bullied Janine Amesta into being my online friend. She is one of the kindest people you’ll find on the internet and a wildly talented artist. My review has been entirely honest, though unbiased simply isn’t possible.
