I wish I could follow my own advice because my love life is totally dead. I just drunk texted my ex-boyfriend… except, I didn’t. That text ended up going to someone else.
Oops.
This new relationship is almost picture-perfect, just like my online life. I guess I give good… text.
He doesn’t have to put up with my colorful personality — as my hot next-door neighbor describes me. Or my messy schedule.
This long-distance relationship is the best thing that’s happened to me and I plan to keep it that way.
Until we agree to meet up, and I’m freaking out.
When he meets the real me, will he hate me forever?
Or will we be one day telling our grandkids about that wrong text, right love?
Comment: This one had been in the pile since 2020 and this time I remember why it was in the pile, it would feature a plot with exchange of text messages and I'm interested in books in which the story is told by messages, notes, email or letter exchange, etc. Regrettably, it wasn't what I envisioned at all.
Persy Brassard is an influencer whose posts focus on advising people and couples on dating and sexual tips, which she can do since she has professional background. She is the face of a small business and she has an agent to help her, as well as her sister Nyx as a lawyer. When Persy needs a place to stay temporarily, her agent Sheila finds her an apartment, which is right next to the one where the owner of the building lives in. Persy doesn't know it, but Ford is a very rich man and he only accepts to lent the apartment because of his half brother, Sheila's husband, even though they don't get along. Ford and Persy don't see eye to eye either right away, but her constant voicing out loud the post contents starts getting on Ford's head, especially because of the sexual content, but things between them only change when one night, by accident, Persy texts Ford's number not knowing it's his. Can it be that a mistake might turn into the best thing in their lives?
I feel like sighing. I actually did, just right before starting writing this. I am aware my summary is rather confusing but I don't even know how to explain things without spoilers. Besides, I was really annoyed that the main reason why I've picked this story - the text message format - wasn't really that used (and when it happened, I almost always skimmed) and even more, it only started around page 90 in my edition. Lots of setting up, I thought.
Persy has a clinical formation on psychology and she can be a therapist and I was quite surprised by the road she chose, to give advice for couples and such. One of the elements I liked the most in this book was how this job, more than the social media thing, affected her personal life and that her boyfriend never saw her as more than fun. What she does, if not for social media, isn't that far from any other professional in the area but sexuality is still seen through a certain lens. I think this and what Persy felt when confronted with what others thought of her as a possible life partner were really on point.
However, to me, this was pretty much what saved the story, for the majority of what was happening disappointed me somehow. I only finished the book because clearly there would be a point where Persy would discover her agent wasn't such a great professional as she imagined due to their long friendship, and I was curious to see how the author would play this out. Sadly, I think this was done poorly and without the importance on the page I think the situation required.
Of course, this felt like this to me because the story is told in first person by Persy and Ford, and some things we cannot see as well as if it was third person. I also had the feeling the focus wasn't really on this but on the romance, which is a pity because the romance was weak. Sometimes, there are stories where misunderstandings and keeping the secrecy of identities works out, but to me not so in this book. Persy doesn't know who Ford is, which is credible, but the way the plot develops, and considering the small group of people they have in common, it feels over the top they never connected the dots. Well, that Persy did, because Ford knowingly kept things from her.
At some point, the expected cliches in such a plot were easily spotted and I think the author wasn't dealing with the plot's issues well enough. The message exchange device was contrived, in my opinion, and not executed well for them to keep up the secret of their identities. I could not buy they were making an emotional connection, despite what they admitted later on, when things were finally solved. I think Ford's personality was too bland and unsympathetic at times for me to see the allure of him as a good romantic partner.