Good morning,
After finally having read our year of maybe from her, I had been so hyped to read her new novel too! Today tonight tomorrow aswell as The ex talk are next on my list- as i’m definately loving her work so far 💕
5 / 5 stars
Reps; OCD, depression, lesbian couple (secondary characters), Skin condition (eczema), Jewish main character
❌ Said by other reviewers to be a bad muslim rep
First glance, we have Quinn that we know have OCD and is medicated for it. As I love to share on here, we know I also have anxiety; now although they aren’t quite the same.. OCD is apart of anxiety (although the two can overlap, it doesn’t mean you can get the OCD diagnosis specifically), and so much of what she goes through are things that I do aswell!! Per exemple: locking your car doors multiple times because you fear it might’ve not locked properly (I usually do three.. and still ask if I did lock them).
Later on in the book, we find out that another of our character have depression too! Having it pretty well explained how it can sneak on you, catching you off guard and making you think this absolutely cannot be depression, and that really- you’re fine.. just lazy. The character also explain how they finally got help for it and is also medicated. This was a happy surprise for me, having BOTH reps that I had no clue about going in my reading; which is pretty relatable from my experience.
The romance in this had me SWOONING. It got the perfect match, in my opinion: one who’s really into romance & grand gesture, genuinely loving based on how their parent’s story happened.. which is still going strong, so they absolutely swear by it. And then you have the contrast: the other one having seen their parents “faking” or putting a mask to pretend all is right, when they know otherwise.. leading them to be more on their guard, against all thoses grand gesture things, preferring physical contacts to true emotions.
And then it shift. As Quinn fell more and more for Tarek and realizing that maybe this was more real than she would’ve had though, I got all the butterflies & warm fuzzies 🥰 🥰 Everything gets even better with the “Other guys never took the time to make me orgasm either” as the cherry on top of the sundae; Tarek makes everything feel different, as he genuinely care and love her.
The novel taking part in their respective parent’s businesses as a caterer (Tarek) & wedding planner (Quinn), I find it pretty interesting to have the back of the medal of this career specifically. I haven’t read much books with thoses yet- and more than a love story, we have the coming of age too where Quinn soon need to head to college… but need to figure out where she wanna go. Not wanting to keep the family business going, unlike her sister, as she don’t quite believe in weddings or love anymore- and just don’t passion for it; while also being scared of stepping out in fear of losing her family and most of all her sister.
She gets the opportunity to redefine what the harp means to her, not only being her “wedding tool”.. but back to being something she genuinely enjoy & play outside of work. Her teacher having Five. Corgis. is an absolute mood !!! Fine, it isn’t dachshunds.. but that sure is close enough for me.
“Sometimes the world is terrible, and love stories… they make it feel less heavy.”