Play Book Tag discussion

What a disappointment! One of my favorite recent books was Red, White & Royal Blue. Besides the sweet love story, the back stories on family and politics seemed real and relatable, so I was really looking forward to this one by the same author.

But what the heck! This book is a mess. It's not the central paranormal part that was ridiculous, it was everything else. New York City is presented like something out of The House in the Cerulean Sea. Everyone is multi-hued, multi-gendered, quirky but loving to everyone else. And these people manage to live in present-day NYC with part-time jobs as artists, bartenders, and waiters. None of them seem real. The main character works in a restaurant but that venue serves only as a place for more quirky but loving characters. At one point, the restaurant might close unless a lot of money is raised, so "let's put on a show". This book can't decide if it is La Boheme/Rent (artists and love for a doomed girl), a Judy Garland musical, a time travel/sci-fi story or what. And it is SOOO slow. "I think I love her, but maybe she doesn't love me. I better not say anything" - over and over. The narration was fine but couldn't save the book. I put the speed up, which I rarely do. The only good thing was that I am getting over a medical issue that causes me pain and difficulty sleeping and this book put me to sleep multiple times! I think I will request my credit back from Audible. (I am the weird person who only returns books I read all the way through and hated, I feel I deserve recompense for my time!)

Nooooo!!! I just bought this one at my local bookstore!

I started this in July, but lost interest and haven't finished it yet. Your rating has solidified my opinions of it so far, and I'm thinking that if it doesn't get any better, I probably won't bother. I mean, I enjoyed RWARB, but even that book I thought was a bit too long.

Well, your opinions may vary, but it definitely is longer than it needs to be.

Sad day!! I'll probably still read this, but going in with lowered expectations. Thanks for the review, Robin.