In addition, the characters’ physical appearance is another trite flaw in the book, making Adam tall, broad, with chiselled features, mysterious eyes and a rare smile, seemingly reserved only for Olive always perfectly dressed in clothes that are ‘custom made’ to accentuate his physique. Hazelwood describes him as a ‘moody asshole’, perpetuating the popular hate-everyone-but-her trope, which, aside from being one of the most overused tropes when it comes to male characters, is incredibly toxic.
Adam, on the other hand, is always serious and put together, with seemingly a perfect life, except for a miraculously absent relationship. There was tremendous potential to make her a legitimate role model with an actual personality, instead the character fell flat. The way the novel is written almost contradicts Hazelwood’s attempt to address feminism having made Olive nothing more than a mess, always in need of rescue. Olive and Adam’s entire relationship is perfunctory, and in no way original or interesting.
Although inclusivity is indubitably an important conversation, Anh makes academia her entire personality, making her appear tacky and superficial. Hazelwood begins to explore some relevant ideas of today’s society, especially with the character of Anh Pham, Olive Smith’s best friend, however her only personality trait is being a woman of colour in STEM.
This book reads like a 2015 Wattpad fanfic, with an overdone storyline and basic protagonist and love interest. Having been promised an exciting plot and well developed characters, I feel like I have been metaphorically robbed. As an avid reader, I was excited to read a novel that explores romance from a new perspective, however was left deeply disappointed. I have read multiple reviews that have described the romance and characters as unconventional and explored from a new angle. Having first come across this book on TikTok, I was intrigued.
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