Joel Leslie’s performance is wonderful, but that’s the end of my praise.
I’ve loved Lily Morton books in the past, so I’m shocked at how poorly written this is. This reads more like a rich man’s home renovation blog post than a romance novel. Christ, I got so tired of hearing every single minute change to the house listed in bullet point fashion. I absolutely do not care about the new plumbing or windows, and I might have if they mattered or impacted the story, but they DON’T. It’s so strange how much time is spent describing a building rather than, uhhh, developing the STORY.
Blue and Levi have no meaningful characterization beyond tropes. They have no chemistry. They have no friends. Their lack of friends isn’t even discussed. (Did the writer forget that people don’t exist in a vacuum? These don’t feel like humans!) The story takes AGES to begin, and once it does, it’s dull. Romantic scenes are shoehorned into absurd moments. Lustful thoughts are even more jarring and out-of-place. Oh, we’re in the middle of a ghost attack? Perfect time to ogle Levi’s shoulders. Let’s not forget grinding certain body parts in public for literally no reason the first time they kiss. Tf? That’s not sexy, it’s too goofy to believe.
Levi’s tragic backstory (TM) is the typical “dead mom” trope, and although it never breaks past a surface-level degree of depth, it’s at least handled better than Blue’s. Blue’s tragic backstory (TM) is a toxic mixture of serious topics delivered as underdeveloped, ignorant tropes. There is a clear lack of in-depth understanding of poverty on the scale Blue experiences. Foster care is stigmatized so badly that the book literally frames entering sex work at age 13 (which is child sex trafficking) as the better of two bad options. NO. No, no, no, no, no, no. The offensive, astonishing ignorance of that! Foster care and sex work are treated in the most clichéd, ignorant, unrealistic, one-dimensional way you can imagine. Suicide is handled in much the same way. Why on earth write these things if you aren’t interested in writing them effectively? I am so exhausted by authors tacking serious topics on to characters for the sake of some contrived “depth” or drama without bothering to understand what they’re writing. Handle these topics with the sensitivity and research they require or choose something easier for your lazy drama!
Oh, and Levi’s first visit to Blue’s home (a place he’s squatting)? After only having spoken to him a handful of times? Insult the living conditions and demand he come live in his haunted mansion. This is how they end up in close quarters in order to get the story moving, but UGHHHHH what a disastrous way to write a wealthy-poor opposites-attract dynamic. “What gross peasant conditions! Come be my kept boy, you filthy rat!” ? It’s brushed aside by the story as a sweet gesture. YIIIIIIIKES. (I swear it does NOT read as sweet, AT ALL.)
The style is so underdeveloped, too. Reminds me of Stephen King’s comment about JK Rowling’s writing: “She never met an adverb she didn’t like.” Morton uses WAY too many adverbs to the point that I felt like shouting, “Do you think readers are too dense to understand subtext or tone?! Why is every stray emotion being shoved down our throats?!”
Exhaustingly bad in both form and content.