Have you ever read a book and wondered why an H or h was written the way they were? Did you ask yourself who acts like that in real life? Or, who would put up with that for 5 minutes, never mind long enough for a book?
I recently started reading a book that made me ask just those questions. The H in the book is a single dad to 2 sons, the older of whom is 10. For some background, as I said, the H is a single dad. The son is interested in a girl at school but apparently won't ask her out. The whole it takes a village thing had also been mentioned.
The h in the book has taken it upon herself to inform the single dad that he's a shitty dad because he didn't know about his son's crush and because he isn't doing his duty by dating. Wait, what? She went into great detail, for a long, long time about how this man is failing his 10-year-old son. The entire first 6% of the book.
First off, I hate the h. Period. No one has any business telling someone they're a bad parent because they aren't dating. (And she didn't have children) Who even does that? I'm sorry, but there's just no coming back from that. There's literally nothing she could do that would make that okay. Ever.
I get that there needs to be some kind of drama or angst in a romance, otherwise, (IMO) they're too sickly sweet. I even prefer books with drama and angst. However, I just can't read a book where people allow themselves to be ripped into in that manner. The H just stood there and took it. Let her rail at him for something that was none of her business.
To me, while storylines may not always be plausible, even most times, the characters should at least behave like normal humans, unless different behavior is explained. For example, a character who was abused or assaulted may show fear and anxiety in certain triggering situations.
I don't understand why writing characters that behave so horribly to someone they're supposed to fall in love with would even be considered, much less written and published. (No, this wasn't an enemies-to-lovers, it was a friends-to-lovers)
Berating someone for the way they parent, and for the extent of time that the h in this book did, reeks to me of someone who is or will be an emotional abuser. Not attractive, nor something I want to read. Not when the MCs are supposed to be friends. If this author had wanted to write a dark romance or enemies-to-lovers, then they should have done that. This was a hard DNF. (As this blog is only my opinion, I will not supply the title or author, so please don't ask.)