Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 2 stars
Spicy Meter: -1 fire emoji
Content Warnings: Discusses infidelity and contains a scene with questionable consent. Big trigger warning on being drunk and that dubious sexual content.
“Holiday Read” follows Candice, a surf instructor and romance lover, and Alexis, a writer struggling to finish his next romance novel. That’s how they end up in the weirdest of situations—Candice being Alexis’s secret inspiration and then Candice getting extremely pissed when she found out that’s what his interest in her was all about.
What do you get when you mix great writing but a question plot and not-so-relatable characters? A 2-star read apparently. Based on the premise (and the book cover) I thought I would enjoy this read, but sprinkle in some sexual assault and I was immediately turned off. I had to DNF at 32%, I could not find redemption for that situation.
Nonetheless, I really liked Taylor Cole’s writing there for a bit and I wouldn’t be against reading more of what she has to offer—as long as it doesn’t include drinking and tipsiness around a first hook up, explicitly after said drunk character had expressed their desire not to hook up.
That’s all for this review. If you’re into teacher-student relationships and aren’t repulsed by the no-consent thing, you might like this. I didn’t, but that’s just me.
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ARC provided by NetGalley and Aria in exchange for an honest review.
andrea's galley 