Sam's Reading: A Work in Progress

I honestly don't know how to characterize this decent book that was almost good. Almost really good. I almost kind of sort of like it?

It was on the longer side, it seemed, with heavy set-up on a trio of best friends making their way in the world in their mid-20s. One of the friends is in love with another, which leads to all kinds of things. Things that almost made me stop reading. The heroine (Gio) felt weak, the love interest/friend (Dec) abusive, the other friend (Zoe) continually telling her that he didn't deserve her time and efforts and she was right. Zoe was so committed to that, she basically ended her own friendship with Declan. Gio, in effect, is a fallback girl for Declan, and their relationship reads very co-dependent. It clearly messes with her agency and her self-confidence, and we are given many many reasons that this isn't worth it for her. Gio doesn't see this for herself until he insults her so horribly at a party, she hides away, calls a 30 day break to get over him, and I'm confused...I thought it was a friends-to-lovers. And also weak heroine. This book nearly lost me after 20% - after all that's some pretty hefty groundwork for a...

NEIGHBOR ROMANCE.

But honestly, this is why this book glimmered. Despite the choppy, awkward start with the annoying MC (Gio) it did set her off on a journey. One with a nicer, steadier guy who didn't need her and take her for granted. Star built their intimacy, tension and relationship quite nicely, but that undercurrent of waiting for the other shoe to drop (i.e. the re-intro of Declan) was irritating. I felt like I couldn't move on from that raincloud of her old, unhealthy friendship. As Gio gains her agency though, and as her relationship with Theo grows, I appreciated the depth to which all the characters seemed to be explored. And in the end, I appreciated the way the friendships were fleshed out. Neither perfect nor healthy, but striving for both. Theo was a steady, quiet, sexy type. He also made mistakes. It was enjoyable to see how much he appreciated Giovanna in the end, and how he worked with and through his own baggage.

So why not quite three stars? Cause doesn't this sound almost great? Well, really, that first 20% were crazy making, the Declan subplot was irritating, the writing at times felt juvenile and wasteful. It just wasn't a tightly knit story-I felt too distracted. So, despite the strong secondary characters and the admirable development and growth for the relationships and friendships and our main characters, I just can't give it more than a 2.47. It just felt a little too all over the place even though sometimes that lent to the strength of the book, it was absolutely the major detractor too.

**BTW, I love the colors on the cover, and that's why I read it. Good times.