Did I enjoy this book so much that I purchased another book by the author, Amy Lea, before finishing it? Yes. Does that change my opinion of the ending? To be determined…
As I am entering my “reading era”, I’m noticing that I am quite consistently let down by the endings. Before we get into that, here’s what I enjoyed about chapters 1 through 21(ish).
Exes & O’s was a spontaneous pick up for me on my personal quest to read more books by and about people of colour. As a lady of mixed heritage, I’ve never been able to relate to the blue orbed and cascading blonde haired protagonists in many of my previous favourite reads. The media I’ve consumed has really impacted my perception and I’m eager to change that to better reflect the world I live in. Enter Amy Lea and Tara Chen.
Tara Chen, rom-com novel enthusiast and heart-broken nurse, journeys back through her list of exes hoping to reconnect to live her own cheesy-trope romance. What she couldn’t foresee is that the trope she was searching for was not the one she’d end up fulfilling.
The build up was fabulously written thanks to the adventure through Tara’s past exes that gave us more time with who we were actually rooting for. Even if you are right in suspecting that the two victims of proximity flatmates are the book’s en
dgame, you’ll still enjoy every second-chance love story that Lea feeds. The predictability didn’t stop me from swooning and enjoying the ride.
Small tangent, I noted that I hadn’t thought of a firefighter as a genuine love interest contender. In television and movies, a firefighter is stereotypically used as a catalyst for a bit of insecurity from the established leading lover. Trevor, said firefighter flatmate, is painted as effortlessly cool with a heart of gold, which made him the ideal contrast to not-so-cool Tara.
Despite our hopeless romantic leading lady, Tara Chen, being of asian heritage, I could see myself in her. A romance obsessed, dramatic, needy woman who is not immune to a pack of abs? Tara is a little bit of all of us.
Now for that ending. When these lovers finally get together, it starts to rush. Tara and Trevor have great chemistry as sassy flatmates, so much so that you’re always rooting for them even with the flaunting of all of the ex-lovers. As an audience, we know Tarvor as a couple before they’re even official. So my beef is why did Trevor change? Who he became as Tara’s boyfriend didn’t feel authentic to who he had been for the majority of the novel. The satisfaction of the couple finally ending up together is bittersweet when you don’t recognise the lover in his final form.
As an easy read from the get-go about a couple with undeniable chemistry, Exes & O’s is enjoyable, but be prepared that the last few chapters (surprisingly) don’t belong to a different book.
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