This was an impulse pick up from my library because fat rep in rom-coms does a body good. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed by it. 😞

Some of the reasons it didn't work for me was just personal taste. I don't really care for or relate to academia as a setting, and there was a lot of details and references to medieval literature that didn't land for me (and I imagine won't land for most readers tbh).

But I also don't feel like the author sold me on the love interest's character growth that happened off-page before the book starts. Because the book is only from the main character's PoV, all we see is the flashbacks of him being a shit-weasel in the past, juxtaposed with him being...decent, I guess? in the current day. But like, we don't really get a satisfying enough look into what that journey looked like for him and how he felt about our main character then vs now.

So, as I was plodding along in the book, I was getting 3-star vibes the whole way...until we get to the big conflict. And, spoiler:

The thing you're led to believe he did is so fucking egregious and unforgiveable, only to have it revealed after the big blowout breakup that...IT WAS A FUCKING MISCOMMUNICATION. And the really dumb, annoying kind where it is absurd that no one just says what the thing is, even coincidentally. Like, the author has to write around them just blurting it out because it's such a basic misunderstanding.

Okay, I'll say something nice to wrap up. I really liked the main character's family stuff going on in the background of this iffy romance, and how Allison stood up for herself to both her parents for different but related reasons. There was also a little mention early on that Allison has a thyroid disorder and she's been fat pretty much her whole life, which I really appreciated. Not that any of us should have to justify or explain our bodies existing any which way, but as someone with PCOS who is finally on the long, winding path to accepting her size, I really felt seen in that little moment. 😌