Imme van Gorp's Reviews > Always Him

|| 2.0 stars ||

Oh my god, why!? Why did this need to be such a disappointment? Again! It’s really starting to become a running theme with this author, and I’m getting kind of sick of it. No matter how much I loved Sem and Emery, I think I will be parting ways with this author from now on. She’s just lost her spark for me.
Whereas her characters used to be endearing and funny, now they’re just annoying and ridiculous. Whereas the romance used to be all-consuming and devoted, now it’s just silly and frustrating. Her latest books just feel empty and I don’t like much about them.

The worst part is that I was genuinely so excited for this book. Finn and Landon seemed like the perfect pairing to write a book about, and I could not wait to see it all play out! Unfortunately, it played out like the biggest disappointment imaginable and all potential was completely lost.

I knew this would have the best friends-to-lovers trope with a heavy dose of pining and unrequited love; I was sooo ready for that! I mean, I love that dynamic!
So colour me surprised when Finn, who’s supposed to be pining for Landon and doting on him hand and foot, has the personality of a cold dead fish. If I didn’t already know he was in love with Landon, I would have never guessed it from the way he acted. He literally did nothing but exist with a stoic face, pretending like every time Landon touched him was the biggest hardship imaginable. Dude honestly did not do anything remotely interesting and he never showed an ounce of emotion or personality!
The only thing Finn did passionately was continuously text with this other guy, Archer, even though he knew how much it was bothering Landon and he knew that it was driving a wedge between them. I mean, call me crazy, but if the man that I have been in love with for EIGHT WHOLE YEARS is finally giving me the time of day, you will not see me texting another man 24/7. Like, why? I understand he was supposedly talking about Landon the entire time, but it was still freaking stupid.
Finn just sucked as a love interest. Plain and simple. And that honestly came as a shock to me because based on the previous book I thought he would be amazing…

And honestly, do not even get me started on Landon, because this man drove me absolutely mad! He had such a terribly infuriating personality and I wanted to smack him repeatedly. He did nothing but whine and be stupid. Literally, that’s all he did. Nothing else. Just whine. Be stupid. Whine. Be stupid. Repeat that over and over again and you have this book.

Also, just to be clear, the premise of this book was utterly insane and did not make any sense whatsoever. Supposedly Finn wants nothing more than to be with Landon, but he does everything in his power for that not to happen. He never made any kind of effort to win Landon over and he never attempted to make Landon see him in a romantic light. If anything, it seemed like he was working hard to achieve the exact opposite. He was working against himself so hard, sometimes I couldn’t even be sure if he really did want to be with Landon or if maybe he changed his mind. It was just too crazy to think that he would act this way if he did want him.
And you know, maybe it could have all been more understandable inside Finn’s head, but we don’t get to know that because we only get his POV during the chapters when they were young! Everything in the present is narrated by Landon, and I’m certain this dragged the book down further. We definitely needed to know what Finn was thinking in the present because it just wasn’t working this way.

Oh, and the worst part about it all might be that this relationship was entirely build on sex. They didn’t have a genuine connection and there was absolutely no chemistry between them. They didn’t do anything together other than touch and hump each other; no depth to be found anywhere. I’d be surprised if they had a heartfelt conversation even once.

But anyway, not only was everything lacking in the emotional or romantic department, this book was also super boring. It was repetitive like you can’t even imagine, and I was over it after only a few chapters. Nothing interesting happens; it’s constantly the same thing.
I mean, okay, that’s not entirely true; something does happen at the very end... but honestly, I wish it hadn’t. Because holy hell that situation was such nonsense, I can’t even. I’m not going to “spoil” it but just know that it was utterly ridiculous, over-the-top and resolved way too fast for something so randomly enormous. It was just such… bullshit. I’m sorry but it was. And honestly, so was this whole book. No offense, but I’m just so disappointed; I’m almost a bit mad that a couple that had so much easy potential was still ruined so spectacularly. What a waste.

I know this has been a rather harsh review, and I apologize if I offended anyone, but for some reason I simply couldn’t find the will to sugar-coat it. Maybe the huge disappointment I’m feeling is making me feel more intensely about the whole thing or something. I don’t know.


'Inevitable' series:
1. Until Him - 2.5 stars
2. Always Him - 2.0 stars