I was super excited to read this one, but I ended up not liking it at all. I have around 100 pages left and I think I’ll finish it sometime when I get really bored just for the sake of finishing it.
The author definitely is a skilled writer. The descriptions of the main family’s lavish lifestyle are super vivid and exciting. Even though it’s pretty cliche for Asian dramas, I do still like the plot too. Some of the character building for minor characters is interesting enough as well. While not extremely captivating, the cheating plot line was also good enough to interest me.
But oh my god the main couple is a problem. They are just so… dull? I am nearly done with the book and what the main character has gone through would actually be insane to experience in real life. Like even in the very first quarter of the book where Rachel finds out how rich Nick is and never told her is far more extreme than anything I have ever experienced. How is it possible that they haven’t had a single major conflict with each other yet? In what world would Rachel react to all this with a weirdly toned down “Damn that’s crazy, guess I should go try to fit in?” sort of attitude?
Like in these extremely opulent parties there are scenes where she is away from Nick and seems perfectly comfortable? She goes with Araminta to a private island and yeah the girls bully her and she is upset, but her reaction to just how truly anxiety inducing her position feels in this family being so mild is just kind of mind boggling and robotic to read. I’m Asian American with an all Asian friend group so I do know how the gap can feel between different cultures despite being of the same ethnicities. They fail to portray the emotions of this pretty much at all. Let alone how the extreme wealth gap would make one feel alienated.
And Nick’s lack of reaction makes him seem like a complete dick of a boyfriend, even though I don’t think that was the intention. He seems to just dismiss any concern that Rachel has and explain nothing to her. You’d think this would finally make Rachel pissed but she just accepts it as if it’s no big deal.
It’s mostly hard to read because this fact makes the book so boring.
by Pure_Database_7623