Ally’s Reviews > You, Again > Status Update

Rom-coms aren't simple humorous stories about two people falling in love. They're all, in essence, about people who become better versions of themselves in the course of falling in love.

[um... like, you mean, there are characters with character arcs?

and... Josh-but-not-too-proud-to-work is growth, but is Ari-but-married-to-money growth? The growth must be 'less avoidant to Josh' but maybe Josh should be avoided!]

Something under her skin thrums.

"You have three minutes until your breakfast burns," he mutters, resting her legs on his shoulders.

Eight minutes later, Ari bites into matzo brei that's completely charred. She doesn't mind one bit.

[OK, so the victory sex lasts... six minutes and change? oh hooray!]

His mind feels blank, like there's a blinking cursor waiting for a line of code.

[ah yes, the post-nut bash prompt WHAT IS WITH THE SIMILES IN THIS BOOK]

"I know, I feel you, you're so close."

[this would immediately kill the vibe for me]

"We fit together. We literally fit together."

[& this, yikes]

"We're so good for each other."

[on a first time. yep, heck no.

I don't need romance characters to be like me or be my type, banter that would put me off can be fine... but a sex scene that wouldn't do it for me casts a shadow over the book - why is that?]

"You feel so good," she whispers. "God, you feel so good." Her vocabulary is also operating at a first-grade level.

[NO, JESUS, DO NOT PUT THE WORD "FIRST-GRADE" ON THE SAME PAGE AS PENETRATION. And I thought the "burst of serotonin" / "pleasure centers of the brain light up like neon" prose was a vibe killer.]

“Stand clear of the closing doors, please”

[aha! trans rep!]

But when Josh finally emerges from the back, there’s a contemplative look on his face, like he’s trying to crack Gödel’s incompleteness theorems.

[the simile references in this book are utterly bizarre choices - does anyone in this scene care about math? WTH was the Mario/Luigi simile a chapter ago?]

He can't quite feel the beat, but he can feel her breathing.

[oh great, he can't even dance]

"You're the only person I'm nice to. If you weren't around, I'd have no redeeming qualities."

[true. so far this is successfully hitting all the notes of 80s/90s rom-coms including that the girl could do sooooo much better than this schlub.]

...an affirmation. A mantra from one of Cass's self-help books.

[ok, oops, Cass is just cis and tall, us selling self-help books is just too implausible]