The Gist:  Two unlucky-in-love, attractive 20-somethings find each other through a Reddit thread titled “Am I the Asshole?” Is this seriously what it’s like to be dating in 2024? Yeesh!  Enter the gimmicky plot device: Both Emma and Justin decide to fake-date each other to break a curse. You see, Justin’s ex-girlfriends all find true love after dating him, and despite his movie star good looks, great job and affable personality, he just can’t find his person. Since you can’t see my face right now, picture the meme of Brady Bunch Marsha saying, “Sure, Jan.” Turns out, Emma has the same curse (much more believable in her case), so she reaches out to him after reading his desperate Reddit rant and the push-and-pull romance ensues.

What I Liked: In hindsight, I should have DNFed this book and moved on to something more worth my time, but the snappy dialogue kept it somewhat interesting. The author has clearly mastered the dry and snarky millennial humor. Therefore, I will throw in one singular star.

The Romance: Although this author tries very hard to put a new, creative twist on the usual fake-dating trope, the “let’s just date for experimental purposes” idea isn’t all that revolutionary. So, despite not wanting any longterm commitment (I’ll get into that later), Emma convinces her best friend to forfeit their trip to Hawaii to meet with a stranger from a Reddit thread. Can someone please help me make sense out this? Do people really resort to such extreme measures to find love? Anyhoo, the guy is just perfect— like the sweetest, most obedient golden retriever you’ll ever meet. They both seem to be smitten with each other, but the chemistry just isn’t there. Maybe the romance would’ve been more believable if they at least kissed before the book was more than halfway over! Geez—Miss Jimenez—way to drag it out.

The Main Character:  In a word, Emma is problematic. Due to her childhood trauma, she can’t form attachments with people. She enjoys living out of a suitcase and roaming from state to state with no place to call home, which begs the question: Why is she trying to break a curse with the goal of landing a committed, romantic relationship?  She clearly doesn’t want one, so why even go on this quest? My frustration ratchets up a few notches when her pathological mother enters the scene. Does Emma grow a backbone and draw some boundaries? Does she listen to Justin and her best friend’s warnings? No! She keeps letting the woman into her life because she “chooses empathy, not anger.” [insert “Sure, Jan,” meme here]. I’m sorry, y’all, but I can’t deal with Emma. Maybe it’s because I actually was tormented by a malignant narcissist of a mother back in the day. Here’s the thing with authors: despite their best intentions, they can do a lot of harm when writing about things they don’t TRULY understand. Sure, they can research this stuff and talk to therapists, but unless they have a Ph.D. on the subject or actually lived these experiences, they can get it all wrong and make readers like myself feel unvalidated and downright angry.

The Setting: I’m looking at a beautiful book cover depicting two people and a dog frolicking into the lake or ocean. So, throughout the book, I kept wondering WHERE ARE THE SUMMERY VIBES?! Considering the heavy subject matter, it would’ve been nice to get a little break with some ice cream on the boardwalk or maybe some windsurfing, but nope. I know they’re in a cute little town somewhere near Duluth, but they might as well be anywhere because the summery setting is nonexistent.

What Irked Me: Aside from Emma’s meaningless search for love, she has a way of gaslighting Justin’s very valid anger issues. He has to kiss his footloose-and-fancy-free bachelor life goodbye because his mother is going to prison, and he’s left in charge of all his kiddo siblings for six years! When he expresses his valid reasons for being angry to Emma, she hits him with the ol’ “choose empathy over anger” sermon. Wow, Emma! So helpful. Way to gaslight someone who needs a shoulder to cry on. Sheesh.

What’s Missing: I’m not sure if I’ll read another Abbie Jimenez book again, but I might if she could close some plot holes in her next installment. I want to know what happened to the rescued raccoon babies—which, by the way, were the best part of the entire book. And what’s the deal with Justin and his incarcerated mother? Where do they go from here? Clearly it’s all about Emma, but I stopped caring about her midway through the book.

Overall Thoughts: This is not the beachy summer romance I signed up for. Honestly, I don’t know why I didn’t kick this book to the curb the moment Emma made it clear she was just in Minnesota to mess with Justin’s head. This really was a frustrating reading experience. I need to go grab my new Stephen King book to break out of this slump. He never lets me down!