Reading this book was like taking a cold bubble bath: pointless, frustrating and completely disappointing. Because I really wanted to read something that would relax me but in the end it just completely wound me up.
Straight off the bat, let me just say the main character is one of the most unlikeable heroines I have ever read. I pretty much wanted to punch her from page one. I mean, she’s not terribly sympathetic to begin with having slept with her ex-boyfriend’s brother– for some miniscule reason that the author builds up to for the whole book only for it to let you down like a whoopee cushion. But then, *spoiler alert*, if that wasn’t bad enough, she spends the whole book trying to earn forgiveness from everyone she’s hurt, only to do it again with the other brother. Only this time she also does it behind his new girlfriend’s back- a girl who was kind enough to befriend her when no one else would talk to her. So yeah, she’s a major cow. Seriously, this was pretty much my thoughts on the matter:
If all that doesn’t make you hate her, she’s also a massive whiner. Ninety nine percent of the book consists of her whining about how hard her life is, how she feels so isolated, how her mother betrayed her by publishing her secret in a book (okay that one sucked), how she can’t figure out what to major in at college, how she always wants the other brother. But how am I supposed to sympathise with that when she pretty much brings everything on herself? And while I get that the author wants to justify her actions, the way she does it never seems to add up.
I mean, she decides to neatly tie things up by having everyone pretty much forgive her at the end of the book. For instance, even though it makes no sense, the girl whose boyfriend she practically stole comes up to her and pretty much says that not everyone should be after her, cos “it takes two to tango”. I mean, I’m all for girl-power, but is this really the time? It’s not like the main character is terrible loyal to the “sisterhood”- she broke the girl code! – which another character points out (and mysteriously forgives). It was also completely illogical to have the mother of the guys she’s screwed around go “oh I still see you as a daughter, let’s not let it get between us”. Say what??
The whole thing just felt wayyy too convenient. Clearly the author just wanted to tie up loose ends and give her main character a happy(ish) ending- regardless of how little she deserved it. By having this weird ending, Cotugno was clearly trying to shoehorn in some messages about societal norms- except this backfired somewhat cos the heroine’s a selfish witch and didn’t really deserve any forgiveness. (Clearly she never got the memo that an apology means nothing if you plan to do the same thing over and over again).
Apart from that, most of the other characters in the book were awful. I mean, clearly the two-timing brothers were both tools (I mean apart from sleeping with the brother’s girlfriend, they also have some kind of weird challenge between them- which the author threw in to alleviate the main character’s guilt). The aforementioned mother, who uses her daughter’s complete lack of morality to turn a profit, comes across as pretty heartless. There’s also the usual cast of mean girls (I won’t bore you with the details). All the other characters are barely significant and are terribly flat.
Honestly, now I’ve come to write this review, I’m really struggling to come up with anything good to say about this book. I guess I could say that it’s readable and a page-turner (in the sense that you can physically turn the pages, not that it’s gripping)… But that really isn’t enough to save this book.
Rating: 1/5 bananas
Love your review. Ugh I can’t stand cheats either. I’ll be steering clear of this one, thank.
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Thanks so much!! Yeah- they’re disgusting- you’re welcome! It’s definitely one worth avoiding!
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ERMIGHD I JUST READ THIS TODAY AND YOU READ MY MIND
Thank you so much I’m so glad someone else wanted to smash her face it. XD
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OH MY GOODNESS WE CAN COMMISERATE TOGETHER- ISN’T IT TERRIBLE!!!
haha you’re welcome- couldn’t agree more. X
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OH LORD. This sounds like such a frustrating experience. And you are completely right about the mother of the brothers. No mother in the world is going to shrug and stay friendly to a girl who upsets her boys. Fact.
You can at least know you’ve done us all a service by saving us from the experience of reading this book!
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It really was! Exactly- and she didn’t just forgive her once, she forgave her twice- which made no sense!
Haha yes- I offer myself up as tribute :p
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Ha, I like how you rate books with bananas.
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ha glad you like that!! 😀 As an orangutan, it’s the best measure I have :p
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Thank you for saving me the trouble of reading it! I like that you found a positive in it… page turning IS important. 🙂
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haha glad you liked that- and I’m glad I saved you the trouble of reading it! 🙂
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I’ve never heard of this book, but I like your first statement about it being like a cold bubble bath, that was a really clever analogy. The main character sounds like a grade a c__t, pardon my French. Protagonists should definitely have something redeeming or relatable or at least sympathetic about them, otherwise, what’s the point. There’s a few exceptions, like the film “Young Adult,” but it’s nice to at least have someone to like in a story or it becomes a slog.
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haha thanks! hahahaha oh my goodness I wanted to use terms like that! I just thought- nah better not in case people are offended- I’m glad you said it though! Exactly! I find it hard to relate to characters who’ve cheated on people in general- but this was so godawful cos she did it again! I couldn’t believe it! And the second time she did it was worse than the first- gah- I just couldn’t take it! Yeah, I agree there are exceptions like in Gatsby (where I love hating everyone) or even Catcher in the Rye (I’m probably the only person that loves hating Holden- I actually enjoyed the book cos of that). And I also like anti-heroes. But I don’t like characters you’re supposed to sympathise with and like if they’re just tools
I’ve not seen that film by the way- is it good?
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Do you think you would have been happier if she hadn’t of been forgiven but possibly learnt a lesson? It sounds like a horribly written book.
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Oh definitely- if she’d been forgiven and learnt her lesson, I wouldn’t have had such a vitriolic reaction- but the author took it too far by making her make the exact same “mistake” again (though I’m not sure it was a mistake- the main character was pretty much just a terrible person and did it deliberately). It really was a horrible book
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I shall not read it then,lol
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haha good choice!
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This book sounds awful! Thank you for posting this review so I know to avoid it. I hate characters who cheat (and I’m not fond of them in real life either). It really bothers me because why don’t they just break up with the person instead? -.-
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It really was!! I read it a few days ago and I still can’t get over my irritation! You’re welcome- glad this has helped. Yeah me too (ditto about real life). Exactly- and if they can’t decide between two people then just pick neither. That would make more sense to me.
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I cackled the entire way through this review, because this book really just sounds ridiculous.
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Haha I’m glad!! It really is!!
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I won’t bother with that one! How disappointing though, to read a book that is shite 😨 once I start a book – I just have to finish it which makes me irritable and annoyed 😨
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Good choice! haha yeah it really is! yeah me too- this one was readable so I managed to finish it, but it was still disappointing 😦
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I’m laughing over how your desire to punch the main character starting on page one. This scathing review practically sizzled right off the page, and boy do I get it, Sometimes a story is unbelievably not OK. Not only did the MC cheat – twice, but it had to be equally frustrating that the author cheated, too, by arbitrarily letting the protagonist off the hook.As a reader, I need a dastardly character like this to achieve some kind of real redemption.
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haha thanks so much! Exactly!! I couldn’t stand the fact that the author was then trying to make out like the protagonist wasn’t totally in the wrong and trying to share the blame. The silly thing is the author didn’t seem to realise that more than one character can be awful in a book- and you can hate them both equally. It didn’t lessen the blame at all like she intended! Yeah- the annoying thing is at the start of the book it seemed like that might be where she was going. But then she started dating one of the brothers while she still had feelings for the other one
It was really messed up. Also it built up the whole backstory behind the first time she cheated as if it was a good excuse for the whole book (it wasn’t). So it was doubly disappointing
It was far from a redemption story 
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Hahhahaa, I love reading a good rant about a book, haha. I have to say, I was annoyed by this book a lot of the time, but it was still an okay read for me, obviously more okay than it was, for you, haha. But the MC’s choices and just her whole attitude was really annoying at times!
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haha glad you liked it!! haha fair enough- I think I initially gave it 2* on goodreads partly cos I was feeling generous, and partly cos it was readable. For most of the book I didn’t completely hate the MC, I just found her hard to sympathise with- but when she did the same thing again, I just lost all patience with her. Like you said, her choices and attitude were really irritating!!
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That’s exactly the issue with this book: if she just didn’t do the same mistakes all over again, it would have been easier to sympathize with her, and made it all much better. She didn’t learn from her previous mistakes, and that’s what annoyed me a little bit !
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Exactly!!! I couldn’t stand that the author took it in that direction. She made out like she was sorry and then she did it again- it completely undoes her apology. It just made her seem like she was really selfish, cos what she was really sorry about was getting caught. She just felt sorry for herself and had no real idea of what an apology actually meant.
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Yay exactly. If this whole main character had been different, I think it could have made a great story!
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Yeah- I totally agree!
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I love this review! And ugh I absolutely hate two twining characters.. Also thank you for this review. You have technically warned all of us about this book!!
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Thanks so much! yeah- they’re horrible!! I don’t ever like them in books- but I absolutely hate it when they’re supposed to be the hero or the good guy- it makes no sense and it doesn’t work! haha I’m glad!
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This books sounds like a waste of time! Cheating once… Hm not cool but I can let it go. Twice? And no lesson learnt? What’s the point? Congrats to the author for creating absolutely no likeable characters. Usually, at least one of them gets a little credit. Thanks for warning us, I will squander neither time nor money on this book!
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Yes exactly! I hate books like this, cos the main character gets no progression this way- it just makes the book really circular. haha yeah exactly- don’t know what she was thinking
Yeah- it’s a shame, cos a couple of them were alright, just a little flat- but then when they made bizarre choices at the end that were out of character and made no sense, just to further the author’s message, it completely undermined any small amount of authenticity they had
haha you’re welcome!
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Great review! Sorry it didn’t work out for you! I love the bananas! 🙂
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Thanks so much! yeah it was a shame! haha glad you like them!! 😀
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I picked this one up from the library a while back, but after reading a few reviews similar to yours I took it back without reading it (which I hardly every do!) What’s the point of a supposed “romance” when it doesn’t make you feel warm fuzzies for the characters?!? Also, loved your sense of humor throughout the review! 🙂
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Ahh yes, I’ve started doing that more and more lately- which isn’t like me either. Oh my goodness- exactly!!! couldn’t agree more!!! Thank you so much!!! 🙂
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I loved your review! I honestly can’t deal with dislikable characters and I’ve been coming across way too many.
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Thanks so much!! I know- it drives me mad. In a way I don’t mind it as much if you’re supposed to hate them- I’ll either love hating them, or end up liking them anyway. But I hate characters that are so awful but you’re supposed to root for them- no, just no
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That is why it is hard for me to find a good contemporary book! Often they are upsetting and unreasonable. I will definitely stay away from this one! I read to feel happy and to become the character for a short period of time and no one wants to be a annoying and depressing fictional character.
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Oh gosh- yes!! Good choice! I wish I had gone with my instincts when I read the blurb for this one- but after reading a sample I was intrigued, so carried on
Yes exactly- that’s a wonderful way to describe reading!
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I saw this on my recommended reads list and thought about getting it. Based on your review I’m so glad I didn’t. Thanks for saving me the money, the time and frustration 🙂
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haha you’re very welcome!! 😀
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