Exclusive

by Melissa Brayden

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I have to admit, I was actually kind of bored through a large chunk of this book. It just felt like it dragged and was a bit repetitive in terms of just showing how “lovey-dovey” the two main characters were. I think this could have been avoided if the book were third person, and possibly from both characters’ perspectives.

I also didn’t actually like the main character very much. She made some choices that I just didn’t like and I don’t think she made good progression through the story. Because we don’t get to know her love interest as well, she felt flat and I didn’t get a good sense of her motivations.

All My Thoughts

May contain spoilers.

I hate to admit that I was disappointed in this book. I was actually kind of bored through a large chunk of it. The book starts with an interesting premise but loses steam very quickly. The entire thing is told from the first-person perspective of the main character Skyler Ruiz. I honestly feel like this causes a lot of my issues with the book. She gets to work with a long-time “celebrity” crush Carolyn. Carolyn starts their working relationship being fairly mean to her, but obviously, things turn around and they start something romantic. I suppose because we never get to see her perspective, and only get her thoughts on it later when she tells Skyler why her part of the relationship never truly feels genuine to me. I spend a lot of the relationship never fully trusting her. It doesn’t help that they seem to live in this constant honeymoon state. It feels unrealistic and forced. It just adds to my distrust of the relationship.

When the big fall-out does happen, it makes me realize how much I actually don’t like Skyler. I appreciated her part in their relationship and when her dream job was offered to her, she was willing to turn it down knowing how much losing that job hurt Carolyn. I could also even sympathize with her efforts to help Carolyn through her obvious depression. She is completely lost because she isn’t doing the thing she loves to do, but there’s only so much she can do for Carolyn. Perhaps it comes from my own experience with a long-distance relationship but I was not a fan of the way Skyler handled the situation. Carolyn got a dream job offer and wanted to work with Skyler to make the relationship work. Reluctantly Skyler agrees then proceeds to completely ghost her girlfriend. I don’t understand her dealing with constant abandonment issues, but forcing Carolyn out of her life by simply refusing to even talk to her until Carolyn has no choice but to assume Skyler wanted to break up. The fact that it’s Carolyn deciding she doesn’t want the job and coming back to town that rekindles things does nothing to fix my feelings on this. Skyler had to put no effort into fixing everything between them. It’s Carolyn despite having no contact with Skyler, who decides that she wants this nonexistent relationship more than her dream job. I don’t think choosing a relationship over a job is wrong, but this was not set up in a way that would lead me to believe it was worth it.

Overall

I can’t honestly say I would recommend this one. I did not enjoy it or the characters very much. The story was a bit boring and I kept wondering when I would just be done with it.