Review for "Love on the Brain" by Ali Hazelwood

 Look look look… I am fully aware that Ali Hazelwood’s bibliography is completely formulaic (having only read Love, Theoretically, The Love Hypothesis, and this one in that order) but jaysus chrahst if I don’t eat it up every time...

★★★☆☆

I honestly don't think I enjoyed this any less than The Love Hypothesis or Love, Theoretically, so it's perplexing that this one ends up with a full star rating lower than the other two. I must attribute it to the fact that the plotline is getting tedious; there's only so many times you can write the same exact story in slightly different contexts before your readership gets bored. And maybe "bored" is an incorrect statement, because as I mentioned I did enjoy this. I think it's just coming off as unoriginal, owing to the fact that I've read all three of these books in a six-week timespan. I just find that all the FMCs are identical: "I'm quirky and quippy but undervalue myself". The main antagonists of the story are all comically cartoonish in their evilness. The plots follow a very similar vein, even down the two MCs going to a conference together, thus forcing them closer than they were before. And of course, all the MMCs are brooding, intelligent, slightly condescending, physically enormous (that's tall and muscly, not fat, mind you), and obsessed with the FMC (many times, this obsession begins before the two of them properly meet or have any kind of relationship, be that professional, friendly, or otherwise).

That's a great segue because I want to talk about the common misnomer applied to this book as well as many others in the genre, including the other aforementioned novels, which is "enemies-to-lovers". In what way were these characters ever enemies? Bea thought Levi hated her (he didn't) and thus hated him in return? That's pathetic, y'all. These stories always hinge on a miscommunication which usually results in the FMC being completed blindsided by the fact that the MMC is in love with her. By the way, how is he in love with her? As far as I know, they've never held a conversation prior to the events of this book. Supposedly, he broke up with his very lovely girlfriend because he was in love with Bea even though they weren't even friendly enough to be friends. Anyway, this wasn't supposed to turn into a rant, I am just very over the miscommunication trope and the tendency for "enemies" to be inspired by a moderate (at best) amount of annoyance and/or resentment and not actual hate.

So yeah, it just gets tiring reading the same thing over again when I had such high hopes that this book would bring the same swoony romance to a vastly different story. The books are all already so similar being set from the FMC's POV and surrounding women in STEM, so it would have been cool if they branched out a bit in the voice, characters, plot, or writing. I have high hopes for Bride as I can't wait to see Ali Hazelwood's writing in a much darker fantasy context. I'm also interested in reading her novellas. It's harder to be harsh about originality in a book that's less than 100 pages!

Final verdict: The story is cute, but overdone.

Review for "Malibu Rising" by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 TJR sure knows how to write family drama!

★★★★☆

This was a highly enjoyable soft historical fiction with vibrant characters and relationships. TJR books also always have immaculate vibes and this was no exception. The Malibu coast atmosphere was tangible, yet the book was only sparingly about surfing so that was impressive. The whole Mick/June story reads exactly like a Taylor Swift song (I'm thinking cardigan, illicit affairs, All You Had to Do Was Stay, Babe, Better Man, Should've Said No, etc.) so of course I loved that. The complicated feelings that all the Riva kids had towards their dad was excellently done; a lot of people don't realize how hard it is to hate a parent even when they have abandoned or neglected you. I also just loved the sibling relationships. Every character was unique, if a bit one-sided--Nina was the Pushover, Kit was the Rebel, Jay was the Jock, and Hud was the Empath and those traits comprised most of each of their personalities. Nina definitely had the most character growth which was extremely satisfying considering my vicarious rage at both Brandon and Mick during the entire novel. It's also worth noting that I quite enjoyed Jay's growth; he comes to accept the end of his career with a fair amount of grace which I wouldn't have expected from him in the beginning.

I know I'm not alone in appreciating the expansion of the TJR-verse. It was cool to see Carrie Soto in this novel (I know this one was written before Carrie Soto Is Back but I still appreciate how things overlap between the novels). You can definitely tell how TJR writes intentionally in different perspectives because whereas Carrie feels very focused and unflappable in her own novel, here she is portrayed as a madwoman (Taylor Swift reference intended).

I think the plot and suspense is where I had trouble loving this novel. TJR is great at weaving intricate stories with many different characters, but they are not usually suspenseful or mysterious. This one wasn't either--but it was set up as if it would be which only served to create expectations that were not fulfilled. The beginning of the novel tells you that it ends with Malibu burning, and it has a lot of "no one could have guessed what would happen by the end of the party" type of statements. (view spoiler)In all, I think the creation of suspense in the beginning was a disservice to a story which was very enjoyable but not at all shocking or thrilling.

Final verdict: The book is enjoyable and has vibrant characters and relationships, but by the end it does not deliver some foreshadowed thrills.

TJR books ranked:

1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

2. Maybe in Another Life

3. Daisy Jones & The Six

4. Carrie Soto Is Back

5. Malibu Rising

6. After I Do

7. Forever, Interrupted