After buying the first two graphic novels, I can't afford the 16€ a volume going forward, especially considering how fast you go through them. That's After buying the first two graphic novels, I can't afford the 16€ a volume going forward, especially considering how fast you go through them. That's why I switched to the free German webtoons version. Currently I'm at chapter 124 and I'M OBSESSED!! ...more
❤ HYPOTHESIS: You will fall in love with the characters exponentially anti-proportional to the pages left till the end.
Spoiler-light, synoptic plug: A❤ HYPOTHESIS: You will fall in love with the characters exponentially anti-proportional to the pages left till the end.
Spoiler-light, synoptic plug: A grad student fake-dates a grumpy professor to convince her best friend that she isn't interested in her ex anymore, so her friend doesn't feel bad dating him.
Thoughts regarding the protagonists: • Olive Smith: See my thoughts on her selfless lying frenzy, otherwise just your average loveable, overworked but broke neighborhood scientist! • Adam Carlsen: Grumpy and harsh as can be, but that makes the story interesting! • Anh: Chaotic element, playing the devil's advocate and being the MVP plot progression device in the first half of the book. .. and deuteragonists:(view spoiler)[ • Dr. Aslan: The mum in your workplace that everybody needs. • Holden: Actually one of my favorite characters, he just seems like a charismatic dude and savors bickering with Mr. Grumpy in a fun way. • Jeremy: Meh, irrelevant. • Malcolm: Reliable sidekick that was involved in all the shenanigan of Olive. • Tom Benton: Antagonistic and unapproachable. (hide spoiler)]
The characters feel natural and realistic, having their own running gags we are let in on, details from their everyday life and common memories/stories that bind them. By the end I had a good understanding of what kind of person each of the main cast was. Sidenote: As a Greek, I found it way to funny that Malcolm called her "Kalamata", that's just too wholesome and cute! <3 Get's ya sum oily, virgin extra points (or sumthin like dat), Mrs. Author. I like how Adam's harsh ways are naturally integrated into the story: He stays true to his character till the very end, even when being directly confronted by Olive which adds to exactly the kind of tension/friction you'd expect when combining such different personalities together (almost a chemical reaction, one could say). There is a reason why he hasn't had the best reputation on a human/social level and being enamored won't magically change his nature, just as it should be.
Missing or mistakable communication is one of the things that I hate most - IRL as well as in stories. It's just frustrating to experience and often can be circumvented easily to prevent further damage. Using this as a narrative tool to get/leave characters in a certain conflict/tension is seen too often and most of the times not a good choice if you as me. My problem: (view spoiler)[Olive suffers under this heavily. First she doesn't confesses her love that she developed to Adam and thinks he doesn't reciprocates her feelings (which he CLEARLY does, even for such a non-talkative person). Of course infatuation and emotional confusion blur the decision-making abilities, but still! Later in the story a plot twist occurs that is of a traumatizing degree. While I understand that she was overwhelmed at that point in time, NOT immediately taking action or at least informing Adam is just too negligent - so much so that it makes me aggressive! One can argue that stirring up any kind of feeling just goes to show of the ability of the authors writing but I'm honestly more angry towards the author that fabricated that situation through once again using the same "not-properly-communication" trope than the fictional antagonist. In addition to that she stumbles evermore deeper with her continuous stream of lying in hopes of helping others. Olive plainly is a selfless liar to an unhealthy extent, which beyond a certain extent neither helps her, nor the people she wants to protect. This beautifully bittersweet quote slightly amends my frustration with this bad habit of Olive though:
Because I'm starting to wonder if this is what being in love is. Being okay with ripping yourself to shreds so the other person can stay whole. (p. 302)
(hide spoiler)] The author at least is very aware of this and doesn't shy away from once again boldly not only admitting that but also knowingly winking at us romcom fans:
it was misguided, and ridiculous, and needlessly convoluted, and you're a living, breathing, rom-com trope machine. (p. 315)
Not enough redemption in my eyes, though.
One thing that makes this books stand out in regards to competitors is the life in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) academia setting. Throughout the narrative lie intellectual, academic terms, lingo and train of thoughts/associations scattered, which account for a fresh/diversified taste while reading. Eg.
She had two medial temporal lobes, fully functioning and tucked nicely inside her skull, which meant that she was perfectly able to encode and store memories. (p. 205).
The fact that the author herself is a professor and has had that degree of education and first-hand experience in this field shows through. For this reason, people working in a similar sector or literate, science-savy people will probably get the best kick out of this. Related, but still independent to this I like to commend her writing style and the modern-day wit she infuses her work with. I love the small, detailed Slice-of-life aspects that are woven into the story and make it more cinematographic: Common movements or chains of actions/thoughts that everybody knows and has experienced. or classical first world problems. Eg. a character being quiet and pausing a conversation for a few seconds to change lanes while driving, or viewing the ordering process at Subways as a really demanding task:
[...]she was doing something important that required her utmost concentration, like implanting electrodes inside a mouse's pancreas or trying to decide what to order at Subway. (p. 107).
Or for instance your common "telephonophobia" that plenty of Post Gen-X people like me suffer under:
Talking on the phone is the hardest, most stressful thing in the world, and I can't do it with the nice lady who schedules my dental cleanings (p. 194),
or mentioning the well known "pretend to not wake up while the other person in the same room has to get up and leave" scenario on page 219. She also audaciously breaks the fourth wall:
This is not real life. [...] This is [...] a poorly written young adult novel. That will not sell well (p. 314).
Lol, Prof. Hazelwood dared her fate and it proved her wrong.
Like with so many other romances, things start to get rolling from the last third of the book - after the narrative-"foreplay" so to say. During the inevitable sex scene I enjoyed the descriptive nature in which Adam caresses and explores Olive in a non-cringy, but tactile and stirring way - as well as his personal preferences during coitus, lol. Short-lived screentime in relation to the long anticipation, but spicy nevertheless. ...more
Just started reading the series, so the following thoughts are only about this volume and not the series.
- The characters are immature, as they are teJust started reading the series, so the following thoughts are only about this volume and not the series.
- The characters are immature, as they are teenies, so you get the whole teenie-school-drama package with all its dreamy idealism and cringe reality. But I really enjoyed that aspect, and also the romance that is involved. - Old japanese sexist way of thinking about gender roles are off-putting: According to Akito, Azuki (the girl our protagonist has a crush on) pretends to learn and deliberately gets worse grades so she doesn't seem "too intelligent" for guys, so she looks more attractive to the male gender…
A girl should be graceful and polite… And because she is a girl, she should be earnest about things and get average grades. [...] She knows by instinct that the best for a girl is to get married and become somebody's wife.
Even if he deems her really intelligent for that matter, his logic/statement still is stupid. Another instance follows right after: (view spoiler)[His mother doesn't want him to become a manga artist, but when she tells his father, he responds to her "Let him do it. Men have dreams that women will never be able to understand. (hide spoiler)] I don't see this manga passing the Bechdel test, but let's see how things will progress. Also one could argue that that is a pretty accurate depiction of Japanese society (at least or especially for the older generation). I don't want to start a discussion about the political correctness of propelling conservative ways of thinking through media targeted at youth. - You learn about the process of making manga, which feels pretty meta. Eg. when they talk about drawing backgrounds, you start to be a whole lot more attentive to them.
But I have to say I'm quite hooked! It's a light-weighted read if one can say that (as most slice of life manga tend to be). :)...more
The opening is too abruptly eventful for my personal taste, Mini Spoiler: *** Sharks are pushed into their overly used stereotypical killer role. *** The opening is too abruptly eventful for my personal taste, Mini Spoiler: *** Sharks are pushed into their overly used stereotypical killer role. *** Generally I enjoyed how the book is written from changing perspectives of Galen and Emma. I had a hard time connecting/relating with the characters though, especially initially. Galen, the main male protagonist, imo doesn't show enough empathy towards Emma in the first chapters, the main female protagonist. Afterwards I feel like he is just too undecisive, taking into account the dilemma he is confronted with. Sometimes it felt like more of a burden to read through all this headache-thinking, I have enough of this IRL already. The romance aspect of this story is too much hot-cold, back and forth, even two thirds in it doesn't get spicy at all (I could say that the whole book isn't the most sultry narrative). I feel like too much work and time is put into establishing this fantasy setting and explaining the ins and outs of this mermaid species, in comparison to the changing relationships between the characters. The whole book feels basically like a set-up for the series with world-building continuing to take a major role throughout the entire book. Rules, lore and culture of the mermaids drive the narrative more actively then the participating characters, I just wished there was more space for the two main characters and their personalities to play out against each other - in a less forced way, because of internal struggles, e.g. "because fish laws". The very last chapters has a high payback and an a nice cliffhanger (at least there's a sneak peek of the following book to alleviate ones curiosity and lets you form a better opinion to if you want to read the successor). I bet the continuation of the series has much potential, as it can build on the setup and evolve into a much enjoyable experience, but as a standalone book it's not concluded and concise enough. Towards the end I came to like most characters and came to terms with the partly dubious rational explanations for one of the surprises. Over all there were plenty of enjoyable developments to read through, still, it couldn't convince me to invest more time into the series....more
First of: As a historical romance set during the regency era, you have to expect highly conservative roles of men and woman and naturally a paternalisFirst of: As a historical romance set during the regency era, you have to expect highly conservative roles of men and woman and naturally a paternalistic settings. Those social norms and the tabooing of sex give birth to some quite entertaining or story-driving situations. Also, as we accompany two characters that are part of English aristocracy, we only get to see the flowery, rosy side of this social structure of might. Don't get me wrong, I think it wouldn't be fitting to try and make this romance novel politically correct and comment or critique the setting, but you have to know what you sign up for.
Personally, I had a rough-ish time in the beginning to get warm with the two main protagonists (Simon and Daphne) first exchange of flirty, verbal blows. Also while I kind of understood the whole scenario around the importance of purity of noble women in 19th century Great-Britain, and the ensuing etiquette of not being able to date freely, I didn't quite appreciate the way this was handled by the characters. Also this first phase as seemed a bit too drawn out to me, and almost got boring to read through.
The second half of the story plays around one core conflict set on a traumatic event of the main protagonist. To me, it was niftily designed, as both sides acted and argued reasonably from a rational as well as an emotional standpoint. There is no clear right/wrong party and no stupidity or miscommunication/misunderstanding happening, the latter of which I hate most. Both sides made smaller and bigger mistakes (one of which you can read about more in the spoiler-section below). I furthermore appreciated that consistently both sides of the couple genuinely felt that they loved the other, but due to several challenges and events couldn't make the relationship work without struggles.
Spoiler minefield ahead (about one of the seemingly main reasons for others why this book isn't rated higher): (view spoiler)[ Context: In one scene, Simon is drunk and Daphne initiates sex with him. Simon stated multiple times that he doesn't want to have kids, and Daphne just recently learned about the role of semen to become pregnant. He doesn't actively stop her attempt at copulating at first, he even spurs her on, but when he communicates through mimic of his fear of not being able to pull out before he reaches his climax she knowingly stays on him, and actively tries to keep the seed inside here.
Controversy: Many People rate this book 1 - 2 stars to a great extent only because of this scene.
Opinion: Like others state, this act of Daphne towards Simon I would in fact I would call rape. To force one's will without consent or even knowingly against them should be called exactly that. Though Simon didn't fight back in the same moment, he stood under the influence of alcohol and of course hormones, which bemuses and mitigates the control of his body and mind. That it's a big no no and mistake made by the character of Daphne in the heat of the moment, but on the other hand, I don't think she planned this action ahead - and to her defense: was lead by hormones as well. One could argue, okay this happens but there are no real consequences towards Daphne for that! The narrative doesn't discuss this action much further, Simon nearly tosses that instance aside after he left and they reunited a few weeks later. But I don't think this is a no go by the author or the story. Like I said, those mistakes are made in real life as well, but: Simon would have the complete right feel raped or abused and thus to cancel the whole relationship afterward. But he didn't and he wasn't even that angry for this atrocious act of hers, what I want to say is: It is his right to not feel hurt to the greatest extent by this betrayal of trust. You also have to take into consideration, that in their time the hole situation would have been viewed differently by others and themselves, even if that is wrong by today's standards and a good development in my eyes. The author made clear that Simon was not okay with this behavior, as he stated, and this suffices for me to fulfill the "educational mandate", in other words moral, of the story. To stay morally correct, this character doesn't have to abide to the ethical rules, if it's a right that is in favor of him: A right may be exerted, it doesn't have to be. If he wants to forgive her, he has every right to do so, even though if it may be unjust against himself and could (!) empower further abusive behavior (a no unlikely danger to consider). For me Simon's relatively calm reaction shows that deep down he already knew that was a prisoner of the ideals he himself set up in his early life to survive his trauma, and that Daphne didn't want to hurt him. He could have had another more excessive reaction against her about this and it would be reasonable. It plainly would've been another story - but not a better or worse one. (hide spoiler)]
That being said, I honestly really enjoyed my time and don't have anything I would desperately want to change in this story. The ending felt pretty fulfilling to me as well. I'm curious what the rest of the series has to offer as this story arc seems pretty concluded in itself....more
Loading...
