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A review by incipientdreamer
The Fiancée Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
2 stars
Someone needs to slap me every time I add another contempt romance novel, because how many times do I need to be taught the same lesson?! It's almost like I want to torture myself and write scathing reviews because I rarely end up like this genre. My main issue is concerning how formulaic they all are. The meet-cute/ insta love, then the lusting after someone you met 2 days ago, then the third act breakup, and then the happily ever after. I do not think I have ever read a contemporary romance novel where I have been surprised or gasped out loud at some reveal. It's all so damn predictable!
I mainly picked this one up because of the cover, and the hype surrounding this book (also need to stop going for hyped books, but my FOMO can't help it!). My biggest complaint for The Fiancee Farce was the insta-love. I kid you not, the main characters meet for the first time at a wedding, and 5 mins later are already lusting and pawing each other. I don't think they even knew each other's full names at that point! After that the whole "falling in love montage" goes way too fast. They immediately start dreaming and thinking of each other, and it was simply too unbelievable. It felt cringe and stupid, and I didn't care for any of them. One thing this book did do right was canceling the miscommunication trope. It was nice to see the characters actually sit down and talk about other feelings in a mature way, and that is the only reason I gave it 2 stars instead of 1. The miscommunication trope has been over used so much in the genre (I'm looking at you Emily Henry 😡) and it's one of the more toxic and unhealthy tropes that writers often use just to drag out their books. Was happy to see healthy communication demonstrated in this book, however.
The writing was also pretty mediocre. Loads of oft over used sentences used too much. The word "cringe" alone was used thrice in chapter one and around 50 times in the entire 300-page book. So, nothing award-winning, but my expectations are always low for these books (I don't mean to sound snobby but that's what I've observed in this genre so sue me).
Ultimately, I need to stop torturing myself with trashy fiction and actually go read genres and books I have a probability of liking. Then again, who am I without at least one scathing review a month?
Before Reading:
not a fan of fake marriage trope or comtemp romance but that cover...
Someone needs to slap me every time I add another contempt romance novel, because how many times do I need to be taught the same lesson?! It's almost like I want to torture myself and write scathing reviews because I rarely end up like this genre. My main issue is concerning how formulaic they all are. The meet-cute/ insta love, then the lusting after someone you met 2 days ago, then the third act breakup, and then the happily ever after. I do not think I have ever read a contemporary romance novel where I have been surprised or gasped out loud at some reveal. It's all so damn predictable!
I mainly picked this one up because of the cover, and the hype surrounding this book (also need to stop going for hyped books, but my FOMO can't help it!). My biggest complaint for The Fiancee Farce was the insta-love. I kid you not, the main characters meet for the first time at a wedding, and 5 mins later are already lusting and pawing each other. I don't think they even knew each other's full names at that point! After that the whole "falling in love montage" goes way too fast. They immediately start dreaming and thinking of each other, and it was simply too unbelievable. It felt cringe and stupid, and I didn't care for any of them. One thing this book did do right was canceling the miscommunication trope. It was nice to see the characters actually sit down and talk about other feelings in a mature way, and that is the only reason I gave it 2 stars instead of 1. The miscommunication trope has been over used so much in the genre (I'm looking at you Emily Henry 😡) and it's one of the more toxic and unhealthy tropes that writers often use just to drag out their books. Was happy to see healthy communication demonstrated in this book, however.
The writing was also pretty mediocre. Loads of oft over used sentences used too much. The word "cringe" alone was used thrice in chapter one and around 50 times in the entire 300-page book. So, nothing award-winning, but my expectations are always low for these books (I don't mean to sound snobby but that's what I've observed in this genre so sue me).
Ultimately, I need to stop torturing myself with trashy fiction and actually go read genres and books I have a probability of liking. Then again, who am I without at least one scathing review a month?
Before Reading:
not a fan of fake marriage trope or comtemp romance but that cover...