I don’t really read modern romance novels, but I do read romantic fanfiction. I read this novel mainly because it was based on a fanfic from a ship and fandom that I was familiar with. Even better, a friend of mine wanted to read this book too so we did it as a mini read along.

If I had read this novel objectively and not known it was fanfic, I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much. There were a lot of cheesey and romcomy moments which did not work for me. The characters lacked development. I did not really see the depth of their characters without the fanfic lenses. We don’t really get to know the male lead Adam Carsen. The author made the female lead Olive a Canadian from Toronto. There were a couple of things that were off because I am from Ontario. Mainly that Olive claims to be emancipated but there is not an emancipation law in Ontario. I also found it a real stretch that she didn’t know what Ultimate Frisbee was. She seemed science smart but not exactly clever about other things. I never actually bought their meet cute either since how could she not recognize him?

I read the original fanfic this was based on after I finished the novel. It was shorter, smuttier, and less cheesey. The meet cute was not in the fanfic. The novel has its cute moments but without the fanfic element, I don’t think I would have really liked it. I may read her upcoming novels knowing that at least one other one or two is based on her fanfic.

The lack of character development in the novel does not bother as much in fanfic because I could slot in what the characters looked and acted like. I could already picture the characters. This novel’s cover leans heavily into this. This novel came into my life when I was overdue for a dip back into fanfiction.

Read March 11-15, 2022 in ebook.

Disclaimer: The rest of this post will be a discussion of fanfic in general and my history with it.