There are lots of problems just generically with this book. The conceit is very clear -- two neighbors have to self-isolate for 14 days before they can touch, and they fall in love. Cute, right? I was in. Their chemistry is cute in the heroine POV and very bland in the hero POV, which brings me to...
I haven't read anything about the writing process here, but this is definitely one of those collaborative projects that should *not* have been a collaboration. Kylie clearly wrote the heroine, who is the only character worth paying attention to here. The hero is a rich NFL player who whines about being "stuck" in quarantine and refers to women's "bubble butts." Ick. He's just not great. His best asset appears to be...his body? I mean, ok, I guess. But yeah, Kylie, this other woman really brought you down. She does not write at your level AT ALL.
I mean, there are SO MANY plots. There's the quarantine love story (which falls apart on day 13 when the two of them decide to ... take a walk? It's so weird! They stay 6 feet apart, but still, like, what's even the point if they can access the outside world?), a doping scandal, a bad ex boyfriend, money hungry parents, a conflict with the heroine's romance novel (which she wrote in 14 days or whatever (feels like art imitating life here) being a too-personal fan fic of the actual romance), the hero's best friend fighting diseases in Africa, and probably about 12 other weird mini plots...oh! And an old lady dying of COVID! Right out of the blue! A chapter from the end of the book! What even?!?
It's like these two just threw everything they could think of into a book that kind of already had plenty? Or would have had plenty if it were written by someone else? I guess this is partially my fault -- I wanted a quarantine romance from someone who could really nail the isolation and desperation and intensity of quarantine (I live in NYC -- it's all those things). I wanted Charlotte Stein or Sierra Simone writing this one. These two just don't have the skill, I guess. Or, at least, the not-Kylie one doesn't. Sorry I can't remember her name and I don't care.
FWIW, I can only assume the plot point with the old lady dying of COVID was the not-Kylie author's plot point, because I would have expected Kylie to pay a little more attention to the fact that killing a character with a disease that is actually currently killing people at an alarming rate probably shouldn't have happened at 90% of the way through the book? I mean, granted, I live in NYC, so I actually know people who have lost loved ones to COVID, but even if I didn't, it feels like death from a disease currently killing people and shutting down the world maybe shouldn't be tossed in at the end like a Hail Mary pass? I don't know.
Anyway. I'm here for quarantine books. But I guess...I just want them to be better. Send Charlotte Stein a message if you know her. I'll be first in line.