A review by morganwiard
Chasing Us by Kat T. Masen

slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No

1.0

Wow, I have complicated feelings about this book.... I have so many thoughts that I'm finding it hard to organize them. First of all, let me say that I did appreciate the backstory that came into this book. Like I really appreciate an author who can think ahead and give their characters a complicated story.
HOWEVER, there was so much complication in the story that it almost became unbelievable to me... to the point that I really really questioned why the author included some of the details she did. 
Here are some of the questionable parts of the book for me:
  • The books together are so centered on cheating and jealousy that the relationship is TOXIC and it really doesn't seem as though there are any redeemable qualities that would make one want to stay in such an exhausting relationship... except that they literally profess to be obsessed with each other, which is also concerning. 
  • The only really secure and healthy relationship in the book just ends with
    the husband literally dying of stage 4 cancer...
    though it did lead to probably the most realistic and deep effects to Charlie and Lex's relationship, which I actually kind of appreciated. Though I think those issues resolved themselves in the most backwards way possible. 
  • There were times in the book where it got weirdly spiritual virtually out of nowhere. Like out of thin air the author reveals that the FMCs mom is psychic, like halfway through the second book. Then it gets weirdly religious at the end of the second book, again out of nowhere. The characters never lead on that they're even remotely religious or spiritual, but then suddenly they're talking about guardian angels and being in a better place and singing Amazing Grace. Also, grandma randomly speaks to the FMC from beyond the grave while she's giving birth. Like super weird. 
  • Speaking of birth, I find it weird that she says that her
    first pregnancy/birth had so many complications, but then her second was basically just premature.
    I mean, I don't know anything about pregnancy, so I don't know how any of that works, but it's just not even mentioned again. Like is she nervous that this pregnancy isn't going to go well because of her past trauma? Nope, doesn't appear so. She's fucking psyched I guess. 
  • Lastly, and most importantly, why is the MMC such an asshole throughout the entire book? He's not even a misunderstood asshole. Like isn't the point of women writing romance so that men don't act so much like...men? Like this guy cannot stop complaining about the FMC's mood swings. Even to the point of asking if she's in such a bad mood because of the pregnancy hormones lolololol I can't tell if this author sees women this way or if she's just surrounded by men who see women this way. Either way, it makes me really sad. 
  • Oh, almost forgot... and maybe this should have been at the top of my list, but this book uses the R word. I don't even have anything else to add about this one. Just like ew, is it fucking 1998? Nope, this book was supposedly published in 2020. 
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