Arden Taylor

I was waiting a long time for this book to become available through my library, but am having a hard time relating to the characters—particularly Arthur—because one of the voice actors is so unbearable. He would be fine, perfect in fact if the character in question (or indeed any of the male characters, as he does not seem to be able to consistently adjust his voice to maintain more than one character) were comical. But from what I can gather by thinking back after listening to the words (but am unable to grasp from his voice) is that the character of Arthur is a flippant, selfish but charming rake. Instead the actor is giving him (indeed most characters) “teenage boy with his voice breaking,” but somehow on purpose. He keeps jumping up to falsetto multiple times in a single sentence, like a siren. If the character were a fop, a Berty Wooster type, I would accept it (though it’s still annoying). But this is ultimately still intended to be a ROMANTIC comedy. There’s few enough romantic comedies for queer people, can someone please make sure to pick an appropriate actor next time?

(Spoilers) Fell asleep for a bit, but woke up 8/9 hours in to discover the two leads STILL apparently haven’t gotten together, and this book is not cute or romantic or angsty enough to sustain that kind of tactic. It is just not worth the investment of time. I mean, the protagonist (who works in HR) lists every single person of the TWO DOZEN he’s had to fire that day, with detailed descriptions of each of their characters, like the dullest Hunger Games tribute. The same scene in slightly different settings happens over and over and over. I thought it was adorable when I started, but there is no reason this book should be longer than a single scene, because literally nothing happens beyond the inciting incident.

Honestly, the only bad thing is that there still isn’t a sequel. 😭