The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory - book club discussion

[ufcasey]

It's book club discussion day! Today we'll be talking about The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory.  I couldn't find any online discussion questions for this book, so here's some I made up off the top of my head. As usual, feel free to ignore the questions completely and just talk about your overall view of the book if you prefer.


1. How did you feel about Alexa and Drew's initial meeting? Was it believable? Would you have agreed to go as a date for a wedding with a perfect stranger in the same situation?

2. How do you feel the interracial aspects of their relationship was handled?

3. What did you think of Alexa as the heroine? What about Drew? Were they fully fleshed out characters? Did they have any quirks that irritated you or any attributes that particularly endeared you?

4. Some side characters were introduced in this story and some of them have their own novels: Carlos, Drew's doctor friend, is in The Proposal and coming out in July The Wedding Party features Maddie and Theo, who are both friends of Alexa. Have you read these books or plan to read these books? Did you feel these secondary characters were interesting enough in this book to warrant their own spin-off novel?

5. How did you feel about the relationship conflicts - disagreement over Alexa's project at work, Drew's reluctance to be committed, and their temporary break-up after the party where Alexa met several of Drew's previous lovers/now friends?

6. Did you like how they eventually got back together and the engagement scene at the end?


Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

[ufcasey]

Tagging people who might have read this book:
rainbowchip, scribellesam, ssmjlm, wesleycrusher, abs, mrspez07, dontlook, candreco, rootbeerfloat, minzy, tacokick, lolo, eclaires, toepick, monkeyfeet, travella, AJL, spedrunner, rupertpenny,

[dontlook]

I read this book last year. I really enjoyed it. I don’t remember many of the details but I remember appreciating them tackling the race issue between them, even though it was brief.

It wasn’t very believable but that’s what I expect from the genre. It was a nice fun escape which is all I ask for.

I’m definitely planning to read the other books. I’m waiting for the proposal from my library.

[wesleycrusher]

The more I think about this book, the more it annoys me. I rated it a 2 on goodreads and have been tempted to go back and rate it a 1. It was boring and predictable.


I could put up with the same thing over and over (they travel to see each other, eat, have sex) until the party scene at the end. I HATE romance novels when the characters just can't communicate with one another. Alexa got drunk and belligerent out of nowhere (from Drew's POV) but it was all okay in the end? Like wasn't even discussed! And I know people can be wrecks in their personal lives, and successful at work, but both characters were just so immature for their ages.

I thought it was weird that as a doctor Drew would take Alexa to meet a patient.

While I'm glad the book included a gay couple, why did the author make it okay for them to make sausage and hot dog sex jokes with a woman who they just met?

[abs]

So I enjoyed this book. Was it believable? Nah, but nothing in this genre really is. It was a nice distraction from real life though and kept me wanting to read so that's all I ask.

I liked all the characters. I thought and Alexa and Drew were both pretty easy to relate to and I enjoyed the secondary characters as well. The writing was sloppy at times and I did spend a lot of time wondering how exactly they can afford to fly back and forth the country so many times. But again I wasn't looking for a literary masterpiece here so I was content to just enjoy the book for what it is.

I did read The Proposal and felt the same way about it as I did the Wedding Date. I will most likely read the The Wedding Party as well.

[ssmjlm]

It's been a while since I read the book, so my answers may be a bit off from memory.

1. How did you feel about Alexa and Drew's initial meeting? Was it believable? Would you have agreed to go as a date for a wedding with a perfect stranger in the same situation?

The meeting wasn't too far of a stretch. I'm not sure if I would have agreed to go as a date, but I think the way the author wrote Alexa, it was a good out of the norm experience.

2. How do you feel the interracial aspects of their relationship was handled?

They were ok, but I feel that the author lost some of that focus with Alexa's body image issues. I did appreciate it was a discussion and that it wasn't glossed over.

3. What did you think of Alexa as the heroine? What about Drew? Were they fully fleshed out characters? Did they have any quirks that irritated you or any attributes that particularly endeared you?

I didn't find anyone to be a heroine/hero. Honestly the internal dialogue of this author for the age of their characters grated on me. Drew seemed like the normal "don't want to commit" guy and I wish the author had made Alexa more confident in herself. She was written as a successful character, but the internal struggle didn't work for me. I'm not saying in reality women don't constantly second guess ourselves, but it would have been nice for some of it to be more empowering of herself.

I don't remember the engagement scene at all, lol.

4. Some side characters were introduced in this story and some of them have their own novels: Carlos, Drew's doctor friend, is in The Proposal and coming out in July The Wedding Party features Maddie and Theo, who are both friends of Alexa. Have you read these books or plan to read these books? Did you feel these secondary characters were interesting enough in this book to warrant their own spin-off novel?

The Proposal was awful IMO. It took the self doubt inner dialogue way too far. I think it was probably written too quickly as I've had several author's sophomore books be pretty bad.

5. How did you feel about the relationship conflicts - disagreement over Alexa's project at work, Drew's reluctance to be committed, and their temporary break-up after the party where Alexa met several of Drew's previous lovers/now friends?

The biggest issue for me in a book are the timelines and how they are handled. Honestly it all seemed pretty quick and as a reader if I can't figure out the timeline from meet to married, it downgrades the book.

6. Did you like how they eventually got back together and the engagement scene at the end?
I totally do not remember this at all. I'm going to have to see if I can find a synopsis.

[ssmjlm]

wesleycrusher, I agree 100% with the characters that don't talk. Drives me bonkers!

[ufcasey]

I'm with wesleycrusher , I rated this book 2 stars on Goodreads. Why? Mainly because Alexa annoyed the crap out of me. How can someone be that successful in her job and yet just be a nervous wreck about basically everything including her job? She was constantly worried about what to say, what to do, how she looked, etc. I wanted her to be more confident in at least one aspect/realm of her life. Then there was Drew who seemed to be sexy and not wanting to commit, and that was about it. He was as deep as a puddle. I enjoyed their meet-cute at the elevator and thought it was fitting that he then later proposed there, but the majority of the story wasn't all that interesting or believable to me.

I was in a long distance relationship with my now-husband for a year and a half. We flew between Atlanta and Orlando every other weekend to see each other (shout out to AirTran for existing back then and having reasonably decent air fares!) but every weekend? That's not exactly doable. Also, not really something you easily would commit to doing without having had an in-person relationship first before having to do the long distance thing. At least in my experience anyways.

The relationship drama really annoyed me too - Drew was an ass about Alexa's work project and she never called him out on it. Then she meets a whole bunch of his exes and gets drunk and overly confrontational out of nowhere, has sex with him anyways, and then leaves. Like, what? And then they just get back together because they happen to run into each other at a bar by chance and finally talk like adults. I was hoping for character growth but it just seemed like things just magically happened instead.

This book wasn't terrible, it just was disappointing and boring at times (especially during the sex fest weekends where all they did was eat and have sex).

[travella]

I gave the book 3.5*. I'm not usually one to read romance novels. Like most romance novels this book uses a plot line that has been seen many times before, is predictable, and the characters are not deep. However, for being a romance novel I thought it was good. That being said, it wasn't good enough to make me want to read the rest of the series or start reading more romance novels.

[scribellesam]

I did enjoy this book for what it was: an enjoyable, fast romance. I agree with PPs that I was often annoyed by how much of the plot centered around the lack of honest communication between the two leads.

Things I enjoyed: I love when books talk a lot about what food everyone is eating haha, so I liked those parts. I liked Alexa as a driven career woman and her relationship with her sister (although I wish it had been fleshed out more).

Things that annoyed me: the lack of honesty between the two. And the totally manufactured breakup and makeup at the end for the sake of plot drama didn’t feel authentic to me.

I liked and disliked The Proposal for many of the same reasons, and will probably read the third one when it comes out just to see what types of food the characters are eating this time around.

[wesleycrusher]

ufcasey it also didn't help that after this I read The Simple Wild (which I thought would be predictable) but was SO GOOD! It showed me that more can be brought to the romance genre than typically seen. I felt like it pushed the genre, with more complicated themes than just modern romance.

I wanted that to be the case for The Wedding Date, too, and even though it had an interracial couple there was nothing "new" about the story. And there's nothing wrong with that- I mean, if we can have thousands of crappy romances with white lead then we can have thousands of crappy romances with interracial couples, too.

But I do think romance novels can be more than just "unbelievable" and "distracting." It's disheartening if that's the ONLY thing that we expect from the genre. NO. It can be more, too! Don't settle!

[minzy]

I read this about a year ago, so am super rusty. I found it light and fluffy. Plus for successful professional interracial relationship and consent checked and rechecked with everything physical. Their immaturity and communication hiccups were not my favorite. I had the next book for awhile but didn’t get to it before someone else had a hold, and now am not sure I’ll read it.

[ufcasey]

Feb 27, 2019 14:08:33 GMT -5 wesleycrusher said:

ufcasey it also didn't help that after this I read The Simple Wild (which I thought would be predictable) but was SO GOOD!

I absolutely loved that book - it had great atmosphere, complicated relationships, strong secondary characters, and addressed something other than just the romance plot line. SO GOOD!! The Wedding Date would have been terrible after reading that - not a good comparison at all.

[expectantsteelerfan]

I found it really unbelievable, but more the long-distance aspect of their relationship than the initial meeting and agreeing to go to the wedding together. And overall, I felt like Drew read more of a girl's idea of a guy than a real guy. The parts that shared his thoughts didn't feel authentic to me at all.
I did like that both race and body-image were included without being main plot points, because both affect real every day life.
But overall I found it predictable, repetitive, but cute.

[rainbowchip]

I gave this book 3 stars. I liked the meet cute. I don't think I would have gone to a wedding with him because I'm not great with making small talk with strangers. But I think Alexa had the perfect personality for it so I'm not surprised that she did it.

I spent the rest of the book thinking "is this what dating us like?" And being happy that I'm married and don't have to go through dating. Cuz that sounds horrible!

I thought their fight where he said that he wasn't sleeping with someone at that moment was ridiculous. It was obviously a joke and she totally blew it out of proportion. I mean, him totally dismissing her TARP project was way more worthy of her getting pissed.

I found Drew to be kind of an ass. He treated Carlos like crap.

I didn't think the flying every weekend was a big deal or that unbelievable. Drew mentioned that he had some miles and really flights from Los Angles and San Francisco aren't that expensive.

I probably will check out the other books. Carlos seems like a fun guy and I'd like to see the wedding.

[dontlook]

Feb 27, 2019 14:08:33 GMT -5 wesleycrusher said:

ufcasey it also didn't help that after this I read The Simple Wild (which I thought would be predictable) but was SO GOOD! It showed me that more can be brought to the romance genre than typically seen. I felt like it pushed the genre, with more complicated themes than just modern romance.

I wanted that to be the case for The Wedding Date, too, and even though it had an interracial couple there was nothing "new" about the story. And there's nothing wrong with that- I mean, if we can have thousands of crappy romances with white lead then we can have thousands of crappy romances with interracial couples, too.

But I do think romance novels can be more than just "unbelievable" and "distracting." It's disheartening if that's the ONLY thing that we expect from the genre. NO. It can be more, too! Don't settle!

I honestly think some of that might be intentional. Interracial dating isn’t common place in a lot of books (at least that I have read). I think sticking with the simple romance novel formula helped the book not be just about race and more about a love story, even if it was predictable. I’m probably not explaining this well but monitory characters don’t always get to be “normal”, formulaic or boring so this was nice in that sense. Sorry, it’s late and I’m sure I’m not fleshing this out like I want.

[wesleycrusher]

Feb 27, 2019 20:31:41 GMT -5 dontlook said:

Feb 27, 2019 14:08:33 GMT -5 wesleycrusher said:

ufcasey it also didn't help that after this I read The Simple Wild (which I thought would be predictable) but was SO GOOD! It showed me that more can be brought to the romance genre than typically seen. I felt like it pushed the genre, with more complicated themes than just modern romance.

I wanted that to be the case for The Wedding Date, too, and even though it had an interracial couple there was nothing "new" about the story. And there's nothing wrong with that- I mean, if we can have thousands of crappy romances with white lead then we can have thousands of crappy romances with interracial couples, too.

But I do think romance novels can be more than just "unbelievable" and "distracting." It's disheartening if that's the ONLY thing that we expect from the genre. NO. It can be more, too! Don't settle!

I honestly think some of that might be intentional. Interracial dating isn’t common place in a lot of books (at least that I have read). I think sticking with the simple romance novel formula helped the book not be just about race and more about a love story, even if it was predictable. I’m probably not explaining this well but monitory characters don’t always get to be “normal”, formulaic or boring so this was nice in that sense. Sorry, it’s late and I’m sure I’m not fleshing this out like I want.

I do know what you mean. I go back and forth on this. Yes I think this book does have a place. It's nice to have diversity in relationships in all different types of books, just letting the characters *be*. If we can have crappy romance with white people, we also need crappy romance with diversity.

OTOH If a friend asked me for a romance rec, I wouldn't give them this book. If I was asked for a formulaic romance rec, I wouldn't give this book. If I was asked for an interracial romance rec, I still wouldn't want to rec it even though I don't have many other options on the list. There are two more books in the series, both of which have diverse characters and I have no desire to read either of them (this is fully my opinion, I know others have said they want to/have read them). I'll still keep reading other books with both romance and interracial relationships, but if you are only dipping your toes into either of those for, say, a book club, this book is not engaging people into the genre.

Jasmine Guillory purposefully wrote this formulaic book. She could write many formulaic romances for years to come and be perfectly happy with each one, and a lot of people can and will read them and be happy. I don't think she needs to write anything more than that. Personally, I'm looking for something who is.

[aspentosh]

I felt like most of it was predictable and unbelievable, but the aspect of Alexa being super self conscious in many areas while kicking butt at her job was me in a nutshell. I knew I was good (great!) at my job but I was so worried about everything else in my life (looks, relationships, was I doing enough, etc). So that didn't get any side eyes from me.

The meet cute was great and I loved how they brought it back to the elevator for the proposal. I also loved the interracial and LGBT pieces, though some parts were predictable with that.

There was so much sex and eating out that it was insane.

[tacokick]

1. How did you feel about Alexa and Drew's initial meeting? Was it believable? Would you have agreed to go as a date for a wedding with a perfect stranger in the same situation?

I thought it was a bit of a stretch but it was the book equivalent of a romantic comedy so I went with it. I would agree if I was single and free that day. Why not? I like a party and he seemed nice.

2. How do you feel the interracial aspects of their relationship was handled?

It was fine and fairly realistic, I think. I thought the body image stuff was good.


3. What did you think of Alexa as the heroine? What about Drew? Were they fully fleshed out characters? Did they have any quirks that irritated you or any attributes that particularly endeared you?

It’s been awhile but I liked them. It was a fluffy book so I didn’t get caught up on details too much.

4. Some side characters were introduced in this story and some of them have their own novels: Carlos, Drew's doctor friend, is in The Proposal and coming out in July The Wedding Party features Maddie and Theo, who are both friends of Alexa. Have you read these books or plan to read these books? Did you feel these secondary characters were interesting enough in this book to warrant their own spin-off novel?

I didn’t really see the books as spin offs. More like they were just in the same universe. I did read The Proposal will read the new one.

5. How did you feel about the relationship conflicts - disagreement over Alexa's project at work, Drew's reluctance to be committed, and their temporary break-up after the party where Alexa met several of Drew's previous lovers/now friends?

I thought they were both a bit immature but believable. I’ve known a few women who were very unsure of their personal life and had serious imposter syndrome but were outwardly very successful so that didn’t seem fake to me. I thought Drew’s issues with commitment were a little flat. He also didn’t seem to understand that she had an important job and had to work at times which I thought was odd.

6. Did you like how they eventually got back together and the engagement scene at the end?

I don’t quite remember that! lol I guess I didn’t DIS-like it. To me, these books are a palate cleanser from the more involved, dark or serious books I read. I don’t read a lot of books in this genre but I liked that it was light, wasn’t just about pretty blonde women, not historical and not super over the top.

[aurora]

I got distracted last week and forgot to come in for the discussion.

My impression of the book overall was "it's fine." As in, I didn't have to absolutely force myself to finish it, but I don't have any interest in reading the other related books. However, I think that's more to do with the genre than anything about this book in particular - I really don't lead a lot of modern romantic fiction, and wasn't all that interested in whether the characters got together or not.

I did like that Alexa and Drew both had both strengths and weaknesses.

I'm also really glad I'm not in the dating pool as an adult.

[aurora]

Feb 27, 2019 14:08:33 GMT -5 wesleycrusher said:

ufcasey it also didn't help that after this I read The Simple Wild (which I thought would be predictable) but was SO GOOD! It showed me that more can be brought to the romance genre than typically seen. I felt like it pushed the genre, with more complicated themes than just modern romance.

I wanted that to be the case for The Wedding Date, too, and even though it had an interracial couple there was nothing "new" about the story. And there's nothing wrong with that- I mean, if we can have thousands of crappy romances with white lead then we can have thousands of crappy romances with interracial couples, too.

But I do think romance novels can be more than just "unbelievable" and "distracting." It's disheartening if that's the ONLY thing that we expect from the genre. NO. It can be more, too! Don't settle!

I feel like this should be true, but when I think about romance novels that I enjoy it's almost always because there's something else to it, like the Outlander series with all of the history. Maybe I need to expand my horizons!

[aurora]

Feb 27, 2019 20:31:41 GMT -5 dontlook said:

Feb 27, 2019 14:08:33 GMT -5 wesleycrusher said:

ufcasey it also didn't help that after this I read The Simple Wild (which I thought would be predictable) but was SO GOOD! It showed me that more can be brought to the romance genre than typically seen. I felt like it pushed the genre, with more complicated themes than just modern romance.

I wanted that to be the case for The Wedding Date, too, and even though it had an interracial couple there was nothing "new" about the story. And there's nothing wrong with that- I mean, if we can have thousands of crappy romances with white lead then we can have thousands of crappy romances with interracial couples, too.

But I do think romance novels can be more than just "unbelievable" and "distracting." It's disheartening if that's the ONLY thing that we expect from the genre. NO. It can be more, too! Don't settle!

I honestly think some of that might be intentional. Interracial dating isn’t common place in a lot of books (at least that I have read). I think sticking with the simple romance novel formula helped the book not be just about race and more about a love story, even if it was predictable. I’m probably not explaining this well but monitory characters don’t always get to be “normal”, formulaic or boring so this was nice in that sense. Sorry, it’s late and I’m sure I’m not fleshing this out like I want.

This is a good point. It's definitely important to normalize (via art/culture) people and situations that are not the majority, and I did appreciate that element of the book.

[aurora]

Feb 28, 2019 8:19:05 GMT -5 aspentosh said:

I felt like most of it was predictable and unbelievable, but the aspect of Alexa being super self conscious in many areas while kicking butt at her job was me in a nutshell. I knew I was good (great!) at my job but I was so worried about everything else in my life (looks, relationships, was I doing enough, etc). So that didn't get any side eyes from me.

...

Yeah, I don't understand the objections to this part of the book. I think it's extremely normal for professionally successful women to harbor all sorts of self-doubt. There's a whole syndrome about it: the imposter syndrome. This part of the book felt very realistic IMO.

[wildrice]

I am quite late, but I just finished reading the book so I can finally comment. I had had it on library hold and it came in too late to join last week!

Overall, I liked the book. It felt like a bit of a throwback for me - I used to read a lot more fluff/romance and rarely do anymore, so it was kind of a nice quick easy read. It would be a great beach read.

I thought their meeting and the proposal at the end were cute - though the proposal seemed rushed just tucked into the last few pages, right after they got back together. I get that time passed in their lives between those points, but the time jump made it feel a little forced. If there is a sequel, she should have just saved it for that.

I actually related a lot to the anxiety Alexa felt about being with a guy who seemed too good to be true. I wouldn't say my H is out of my league or anything, but when we first met things just clicked in a way they had never clicked with anyone before, and I spent the first few months of our relationship a nervous wreck that he was going to figure out I wasn't as fun as he thought I was and would break my heart. I can see how if he had told me right off the bat that he isn't interested in commitment, I would have been a basket case. I did find it frustrating how little Alexa shared her thoughts and feelings with him for most of the book, though. I get being scared of scaring him off, but I don't think I could have that sort of intense feeling relationship without even a single conversation of "where is this going". I mean I did have those conversations with my H, and I was still an anxious wreck even after his assurances (for a while, I eventually got over it of course). So maybe it wouldn't have made a difference . But it seems a lot of the drama could have been avoided.

I might read some of the other books. I wasn't that interested in having a book about each of the characters, but I found her writing style fun and easy to read so I'd pick up something else by this author.

I will add that I read a lot of books - I think this is #10 this year already. I might not want to invest in this book if it was one of, say, 5 books I was going to read all year. But it was something fun to read for a few days.

[litskispeciality]

I thought this was a nice light read. I kept telling my husband it was 50 Shades Lite because it still had a lot of sex and graphic detail. Overall it was fluffy, but sometimes the "he took another sip of wine" or "ate 18 pieces of pizza" got a little old, you could have cut out 10 pages of the book if you got rid of that. The story wasn't really believable, but it was a nice escape. I appreciate that both characters had big important jobs and were career focused, but it was like saying then you can't have romance. My one hard time though was that after just one year they're already engaged, in this big spectacle, and he up and picked the job to be closer to her after a couple of months. Yes he already knew about it, but pre-Alexa he didn't care about the job.

[bowies]

I’m in the process of finishing this book now. I have not enjoyed it since about the midway point. It’s boring. In romance novels there’s descriptive sex scenes and a buildup of sexual tension to distract from the formulaic plot, but in this book the sex scenes are even boring. It’s the same thing over and over again at about a PG-13 level.

I also couldn’t get past Drew bringing his hookup (at the time) to meet a patient. Holy inappropriate, Batman. I was annoyed already at him by that point too because the most unbelievable aspect of the entire book was his “penance” of being in his ex’s wedding because he broke up with her before her birthday. He didn’t do anything awful but it was built up as such. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop but no, that was it.

It just felt like this book was trying to please too many people and just ended up being milquetoast. Anyways, 1.5 stars, would not recommend.

[luckystar2]

May 11, 2019 13:34:51 GMT -5 bowies said:

I’m in the process of finishing this book now. I have not enjoyed it since about the midway point. It’s boring. In romance novels there’s descriptive sex scenes and a buildup of sexual tension to distract from the formulaic plot, but in this book the sex scenes are even boring. It’s the same thing over and over again at about a PG-13 level.

I also couldn’t get past Drew bringing his hookup (at the time) to meet a patient. Holy inappropriate, Batman. I was annoyed already at him by that point too because the most unbelievable aspect of the entire book was his “penance” of being in his ex’s wedding because he broke up with her before her birthday. He didn’t do anything awful but it was built up as such. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop but no, that was it.

It just felt like this book was trying to please too many people and just ended up being milquetoast. Anyways, 1.5 stars, would not recommend.

I’m about 3/4 way through and thought I’d see what others were saying about it. The quote above is so spot on with how I feel! I could deal with some of it till about halfway but it’s been a struggle since then.

Drew is such an immature character but I seriously cannot get over him bringing Alexa to meet the patient. Then telling her the kid’s cancer info. Not ok!

The wedding/ex drama was so ridiculous. Then the fight over the joke text was stupid.

I’m really surprised with this book cause I see it recommended a lot. I really do enjoy a cute fluffy romance but I really did not enjoy this. I’m contemplating just stopping at this point cause I really just don’t care about the characters.

[bowies]

May 13, 2019 13:39:09 GMT -5 luckystar2 said:

May 11, 2019 13:34:51 GMT -5 bowies said:

I’m in the process of finishing this book now. I have not enjoyed it since about the midway point. It’s boring. In romance novels there’s descriptive sex scenes and a buildup of sexual tension to distract from the formulaic plot, but in this book the sex scenes are even boring. It’s the same thing over and over again at about a PG-13 level.

I also couldn’t get past Drew bringing his hookup (at the time) to meet a patient. Holy inappropriate, Batman. I was annoyed already at him by that point too because the most unbelievable aspect of the entire book was his “penance” of being in his ex’s wedding because he broke up with her before her birthday. He didn’t do anything awful but it was built up as such. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop but no, that was it.

It just felt like this book was trying to please too many people and just ended up being milquetoast. Anyways, 1.5 stars, would not recommend.

I’m about 3/4 way through and thought I’d see what others were saying about it. The quote above is so spot on with how I feel! I could deal with some of it till about halfway but it’s been a struggle since then.

Drew is such an immature character but I seriously cannot get over him bringing Alexa to meet the patient. Then telling her the kid’s cancer info. Not ok!

The wedding/ex drama was so ridiculous. Then the fight over the joke text was stupid.

I’m really surprised with this book cause I see it recommended a lot. I really do enjoy a cute fluffy romance but I really did not enjoy this. I’m contemplating just stopping at this point cause I really just don’t care about the characters.

I ended up skimming through the rest and reading the epilogue just so I could say I was done. I found the “friend” characters to be the people I liked the most. Drew was absolute last.