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A review by marcylikesbooks
Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner
emotional
lighthearted
tense
slow-paced
3.5
3.5 stars. This is a good book, especially for a debut and I’m honestly really impressed with the authors work so far. I picked this one up after reading their other book Mistakes Were Made because I loved their writing so much.
This one was different and I was pleasantly surprised at the authors range within sapphic romance. This one is a very slow burn and for 96% it’s so chaste which is kind of adorable. I liked the slow burn, I liked the characters, the setting, the writing. It’s very easy for me to step into the world they’ve made and that’s one of the things I truly love about reading.
The story has a few things I didn’t like but also didn’t hate, just things that maybe could have been done better (but again, debut book so that makes sense).
I really like slow burn generally but this is too slow, there still needs to be progress. It’s pretty angsty which I also like as long as it goes somewhere but the progression in their relationship stalls or regresses for long periods of time which ends up feeling drawn out which can be little frustrating to read at times.
They also don’t actually get together until right at the very end which it almost feels like a cliffhanger because you don’t get to see them be a couple at all. It’s almost like the book ends when their romance is at the 60 or 70% mark because the book is getting long and too much time was spent drawing things out.
The first real conflict they face felt kind of silly and manufactured to me where a non-issue becomes this source of hurt and the drama that’s generated from it seems incongruent with what actually happened.
The book is also set in Hollywood and one of the plot points explores the systemic sexual predation of women in that culture which I’m conflicted about. On one hand I think it’s really important that more people talk about it and being set in Hollywood it makes sense to and it was handled well. On the other hand I personally don’t like reading about creepy sexual predators in my romance books and it’s possibly the biggest mood killer I can think of.
I really need to learn how to write reviews that don’t just outline the things that could have been better because I did really enjoy it. Honestly this story was a good, enjoyable read with potential to be great and given how much the authors next book improved, I’m really looking forward to what they write next because I’m sure it’s only going to get better and better.
This one was different and I was pleasantly surprised at the authors range within sapphic romance. This one is a very slow burn and for 96% it’s so chaste which is kind of adorable. I liked the slow burn, I liked the characters, the setting, the writing. It’s very easy for me to step into the world they’ve made and that’s one of the things I truly love about reading.
The story has a few things I didn’t like but also didn’t hate, just things that maybe could have been done better (but again, debut book so that makes sense).
I really like slow burn generally but this is too slow, there still needs to be progress. It’s pretty angsty which I also like as long as it goes somewhere but the progression in their relationship stalls or regresses for long periods of time which ends up feeling drawn out which can be little frustrating to read at times.
They also don’t actually get together until right at the very end which it almost feels like a cliffhanger because you don’t get to see them be a couple at all. It’s almost like the book ends when their romance is at the 60 or 70% mark because the book is getting long and too much time was spent drawing things out.
The first real conflict they face felt kind of silly and manufactured to me where a non-issue becomes this source of hurt and the drama that’s generated from it seems incongruent with what actually happened.
The book is also set in Hollywood and one of the plot points explores the systemic sexual predation of women in that culture which I’m conflicted about. On one hand I think it’s really important that more people talk about it and being set in Hollywood it makes sense to and it was handled well. On the other hand I personally don’t like reading about creepy sexual predators in my romance books and it’s possibly the biggest mood killer I can think of.
I really need to learn how to write reviews that don’t just outline the things that could have been better because I did really enjoy it. Honestly this story was a good, enjoyable read with potential to be great and given how much the authors next book improved, I’m really looking forward to what they write next because I’m sure it’s only going to get better and better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Racism, and Homophobia