Just Some Stupid Love Story
Contemporary Romance
June 4, 2024
Flatiron Books
Review by Melanie
Whew, I have so many thoughts about this book, I barely know where to begin. I gave this book two stars on Goodreads and those two stars are by and large for the excellent narration that really elevated this book. That is not to say this author (known primary for her historical romances written under the name Scarlett Peckham) is not a talented writer, she very much is but despite her undeniable talents, this book falls apart for me in a myriad of ways that I can’t even begin to explain but regardless, will endeavor to do so in the form of this review. As an aside, Angela also reviewed this book here so this is clearly a case of YMMV for this book.
This book is a second chance romance, which happens to be one of my very favorite tropes and yet another reason I am very disgruntled about this book just not doing it for me. Molly and Seth were high school sweethearts until she unceremoniously dumps him right after graduation. Seth is devastated and they go their separate ways and cut to the start of the book, taking place 15 years later when they lay eyes on each other for the first time since their breakup at their 15-year high school reunion. Molly is understandably nervous, but things go shockingly okay and they dance, Seth dedicates an NSYNC song to her and they end up sleeping together before Molly makes it clear the morning after that this changes nothing and she is essentially here for a good time, not a long time.
Let’s backtrack to who these two are for a second:
Molly is a screenwriter who writes rom coms, she doesn’t believe in true love or soul mates and doesn’t believe she’s capable of maintaining a long-term romantic relationship. I have to stress the word romantic here because she DOES have several long-term friendships, in the form of her two high school best friends she’s STILL best friends with despite them living on opposite ends of the country, she loves her mother dearly, but she does have a complicated relationship with her father who is a right asshole and left her mother when Molly was a teenager, which resulted in Molly’s mom sliding into deep depression and leaving Molly alone to deal with everything. Oh, and because of the ugliness of her parents’ divorce, she loathes divorce lawyers.
Seth is, wait for it, a divorce lawyer! He wholeheartedly believes in true love and rom coms and soul mates and grand gestures and runs headlong towards every relationship he’s ever had with all the grace and enthusiasm of a toddler stumbling towards a shiny object they’ve suddenly spotted on the ground. Which is to say, Seth has ZERO chill. Negative chill. The morning after they have very good, hot sex (Seth has zero emotional chill but is apparently a freak in the sheets, go Seth!) they make a bet, naming five couples from their reunion and whether those couples will stay together or not by the time their 20th high school reunion rolls around. If Seth’s predictions come true, then Molly must be his date to their 20th high school reunion and spend the night with him and admit soul mates exist. And if Molly wins, then…. well, actually I don’t remember this part but it’s not all that relevant.
The book spans essentially the time between their 15th high school reunion and their 20th high school reunion and while I can see the cleverness of this framing device, the fact that these two took over four of those five whole years to figure out their mess is also kind of an exhausting reading experience.
In that time span, many things happen: Molly lives in Los Angeles and Seth lives in Chicago and the two occasionally run into each other, once at a baseball game in LA (Seth is in town with friends and runs into Molly at the game and spills beer all over her, this I guess is the comedic part of this rom com but let me be clear, very little about this book was all that funny) and when Molly realizes she likes him and wants to spend more time with him, he gently lets her down stating he’s seeing someone. That someone turns into his fiancée and based on the experience he has buying her engagement ring, we already know these two are not for the long haul and then suddenly, it’s 2020 and they’re in a pandemic and apparently living together in an apartment with nowhere else to go is enough to make Seth’s no name fiancée (I mean, she HAS a name, I just don’t remember it) realize that this relationship isn’t working and so they break up and she moves out. And LITERALLY the next day, Seth reaches out to Molly and one thing leads to another and if, by those words, you guess they send each other sexy videos in which they masturbate to thoughts of the other, you have either read this book or you are clairvoyant and should seriously consider buying some lottery tickets.
ANYWAY. Seth, in a rare moment of self-awareness, right after the exchange of sexy home videos, decides he needs to learn how to be alone instead of jumping into relationship after relationship, desperate to find the one, and a year passes before Seth and Molly see each other at their friends’ wedding back in their hometown in Florida. (This is one of the bet couples that Molly predicted correctly would end up together, much to Seth’s shock). And THAT is where their second chance romance begins.
Molly, after a year of not talking to Seth has realized she loves him still and wants to try, despite being scared that she’s going to ruin things because she ALWAYS ruins things, and Seth, also realizing that Molly has always been the one for him, is all too eager. The timeline is tricky for me since I read this in audio and don’t have a print copy to go back over but they start a long-distance relationship and meet up every month and take trips together and assumably have phone sex and then over Thanksgiving, they take a trip to Joshua Tree, five months into their relationship. In that time, Molly has given every indication that her fears about long-term commitments are still valid and present and even though Seth has alleviated her fears with words of reassurance, they feel hollow and there’s no real substantive thing here to show how these two plan to navigate her emotional baggage. (There is mention of her going to therapy all throughout this book and she takes medication for her anxiety, which I appreciate but I really think to buy their HEA, I would have wanted some mention of them going to couples therapy on the regular).
Adding to Molly’s ever present relationship anxiety over Thanksgiving is her rocky relationship with her father which manifests in a fight over the phone on Thanksgiving Day and her ongoing worry about one of her best friends who is going through a divorce after her husband leaves her for the woman he’s been having an affair and now, a baby with. (This is one of the bet couples, which Seth ironically predicted correctly would break up. For those keeping track, they each have one correct prediction and one wrong prediction. The fifth couple, obviously, is them). If Molly was antsy about relationships and true love before, having an argument with her father who left her mother and has been married multiple times plus her best friend who tells her on the phone to never get married because it’s not worth it, is certainly not a great way to soothe her fears. And Seth, who has to be the worst in terms of reading the room, decides Thanksgiving, a mere five months into their relationship, is the best time to stage an elaborate surprise proposal complete with a live five-piece orchestra. Because OF COURSE he does.
So, then we have a messy third act breakup and a month of these two being sad and hurt and mourning and pining all the while their loved ones keep telling Molly to reach out to Seth.
I’m not going to give away the ending, but I will say this: I finished this book unable (or maybe unwilling) to believe in their HEA. There’s a part in the book where Molly tells Seth she’s afraid he will always love her more than she loves him and honestly, it’s very possible that’s true. But even if they love each the same amount, nothing in this book suggests that Molly has worked through her emotional trauma and the fight or flight response she has when things get too real and serious. When their reunion happens (on NYE of course because this book is going to use all the rom com cliches instead of actually being y’know, FUNNY) there’s one paragraph (if that) devoted to them crying in each other’s arms and Seth being scared she’s going to keep leaving him and her acknowledging his worry is legitimate and then we cut to a year later and they’re MARRIED at their 20th high school reunion. Like…WHAT?
The book devotes so much time to its narrative framing with all the years passing and them seeing each other sporadically that the section from the ill-fated proposal to their reunion feels so incredibly rushed and I do not believe in the longevity of this couple for a single second.
Anyway, this book very obviously did not work for me, and I was really annoyed by both MCs, especially Seth. I liked the side characters more, like Molly’s friend, the one who was happily married at their 15th high school reunion, then got divorced and at the 20th reunion is already planning a wedding to another man (boy, these people really have a propensity for jumping into relationships SUPER fast).
One last note: I talked to a friend about this book at lengh and after reading my review, she proceeded to blow my mind by informing me that this book is a retelling of the movie When Harry Met Sally (a fact that was apparently confirmed by the author at a book event). Had I known that ahead of time, I never even would have picked up this book because I really dislike that movie (it’s fine if you love it, this is my review and hence MY opinion). All that to say, if you love WHMS, you might love this book! And if you, like me, do not care for that movie, save yourself some time and find something else to read.
Grade: D+
Content notes: toxic father relationship, ugly parental divorce in past, off page cheating by side character, mention of therapy
Leave a Reply