Love & Other Disasters

Love & Other Disasters… let me tell you, this was a disaster.

I did not enjoy this book. The things I did enjoy: the sex scenes, the nonbinary main character, and (kind of) the epilogue. That’s it.

I found Dahlia so annoying, beyond annoying. She is WAY too personal too quickly, she literally takes someone else’s drink and takes a sip of it without asking and it’s the first time they’re actually talking to them! She also angrily confronts them because they didn’t say “good luck” back to her??? What?? She was also just one of those “I’m so QuiRkY” mcs which I am so tired of. Oh and not to mention she’s just barely five feet and this person is like “a floor above her.” (But it’s hard to really understand if the author knew how tall London was based on the steamy scenes.)

The cooking show was confusing. I wasn’t really understanding how it worked, and that made it hard to picture. I also felt like the side characters had no value to them except when it was convenient. We get like four micro-scenes with them and that’s about it. Like I guess they’re friends? I’ve never seen them interact before, but sure.

But really the final nail in the coffin was the third act break up and resolution thereof. I have a serious bone to pick with authors who keep writing these break ups where one of the characters lashes out deliberately to cause the other person pain. That’s not just a bad thing, that’s abusive. You are emotionally abusing them. So a brief reflection and apology don’t really cut it. If someone is treating you like this, leave them, and if you do decide that they have changed their ways because they have gone to therapy and have actually worked on themselves, then still be ready to leave if they do that shit again. No one deserves to be abused like that. On top of that though, one of the siblings of the character who was abused say that what happened is partially their fault! HELLO???? What. The. Fuck.

Also, there’s a villain in this story and they get very little page time so you forget that the conflict even exists. It feels like it was just included for the drama, but with no effort to make it substantial. Again, these side characters were basically nonexistent.

So no, I do not recommend this book, and no I do not think this was a good book and Definitely not a good romance. I think I’m going to take a break from reading romances right now. I’m just tired of being angry at bad writing and poor characters. I know not all romances are like this, I love romance OK? Like I really do, but I’m tired of reading books that support abusive partners, and poor emotional intelligence.