This was another book that my new spin friends suggested to me. It was MUCH better than the Flock book, but not as good as they thought it was or I wanted it to be.
Again, cute premise, but mother of god this main character was oblivious. I have a really hard time with stories that require the main characters to be generally dumb about normal interactions, and keep them from having simple conversations that would clear up most of the conflict.
Olive Smith is a woman in STEM, which I love. She’s trying to get into a new Ph.D. program, and there’s a meet-cute with a guy in a bathroom. Then we move ahead a few years and she’s in the program, and she has another meet-cute with a TOTALLY DIFFERENT GUY and then they pretend they’re dating.
We all know it’s the same guy and not a TOTALLY DIFFERENT GUY, but extremely smart Olive does not somehow. She’s also extremely terrible at noticing that this guy likes her. So many times, I was like, “how is this smart girl so freaking dumb???” It was actually making me mad.
Also, the dude is supposed to be some giant asshole, but he really just seems like a tough professor with standards. So many characters “hate” him, but I was on his side most of the time. I don’t know if it’s because I’m now an old lady and I appreciate competency, but whatever. I’m going to go with three stars.
