BAD WRONG THINGS: A BEST FRIEND'S DAD MM ROMANCE
Buy Now
By using these links, you support READO. We receive an affiliate commission without any additional costs to you.
Book Information
Posts
Melodramatic borefest
Omg finally, I finished this book. I paused it and read two others in-between because it was so boring, and I was struggling through it at a snails pace. It still got 2 stars because I liked the relationship in the middle and the end. Also, the writing itself wasn't bad, just poorly edited. It just felt like an endless rambling about their complicated emotions in their minds. There were some good descriptions and metaphors, just too much and too repetitive. (the rest will contain spoiler about the setup/"hidden" tropes) But let's start from the beginning, even though this book does not. It starts with this weird prolog where we basically get spoiled that they will have a breakup because here they meet at a funeral years after God knows what happened. Since you don't know these characters yet, the dynamic is wild (dub-con, but we later learn that consentual non-con is like their thing, so idk 🤷🏻♂️ they don't really talk about it though). Their behavior is still weird after you've read everything because they shouldn't act like that after the timeskip. I really don't get why that prolog exists. After that, we REALLY start from the beginning. Here's the thing. I don't like it when people complain about the tropes of a book when they are clearly stated before. I knew this was a "best friends dad romance." I like taboo topics if done well. This didn't lie about the trope, and it technically isn't wrong, but the story is way different from what I imagined. Raven and Clint meet when Raven is 9. His mom is a drug addict and alcoholic. Clint is a police officer and helps Raven. He stays over sometimes befriending Clint's son Joey. When Raven is 13, he stays with them full-time, and Clint even gets legal guardianship... at 17 Raven falls in love with him. Nothing happens then. They move out, Raven distances himself, but when he comes back at 23 (after becoming a tattoo artist) and he and Clint (40) spend a summer together, feelings get revealed. This is where the blurb of the book comes in. So, I think the trope is a bit misleading because, well, first of all, he kinda raised him! That is basically his son! I will say, the book does a good job at making it seem different. Still, this is not just his best friends dad. Speaking of that friend, Joey is barely part of the story anyway. He is in that military program and away for most of the time. Besides instilling guilt in them, he doesn't add much. Their friendship also has the "show don't tell" issue, which makes sense since he isn't there most of the time! One of the most interesting things about a premise like this imo is the sneaking around (which they don't really have to do, since nobody else is there), and later reactions from parents/friends etc. (none in the picture or barley there. Only liked Bobby). Also... (spoiler ahead), Raven also casually sleeps with Joey (before Clint, but knowing he is in love with him), and thinks that wouldn't have any consequences 🙃 This whole thing is so weird and takes like 50 pages to set up. It felt like the author struggled to create a setup that would allow them to be around each other, so they created this convoluted scenario... I had to take notes/make up a time line to even get their ages. Now, a bit about their relationship. I liked that they became friends first and had some really good talks. They were even like "this can't just be about sex," which it wasn't, but there was a lot of that as well. It's just that at around 51%, they got more and more obsessed with each other. That was also mentioned as a trope, and I generally don't have a problem with it, but it depends on how it's written, and I didn't like it here. It was too over the top and melodramatic for me. It didn't feel believable. Especially since not much happened in that time. I liked the relationship, but it became boring. Then something actually big happened, and the dynamic became more extreme. That was just sad. Everything felt miserable, and it dragged out forever, like the back and forth would never end. Since we were already spoiled by the prolog about their breakup, I was just waiting for that. This is also where another trope from the description of the book comes in: second chance romance. I disagree with that, though, because for me, that is when the characters had a relationship before the book starts, and then the whole story is about them getting together again. Here, we see them getting together first, and the breakup is at around 80%. That 50 pages at the end isn't long enough to be a whole trope. Just adds to the false image you have of this book before starting. Why do I always have to write so much about books I didn't like 😂 Guess I need to rant somewhere, so it didn't feel like I wasted my time 😅
Book Information
Posts
Melodramatic borefest
Omg finally, I finished this book. I paused it and read two others in-between because it was so boring, and I was struggling through it at a snails pace. It still got 2 stars because I liked the relationship in the middle and the end. Also, the writing itself wasn't bad, just poorly edited. It just felt like an endless rambling about their complicated emotions in their minds. There were some good descriptions and metaphors, just too much and too repetitive. (the rest will contain spoiler about the setup/"hidden" tropes) But let's start from the beginning, even though this book does not. It starts with this weird prolog where we basically get spoiled that they will have a breakup because here they meet at a funeral years after God knows what happened. Since you don't know these characters yet, the dynamic is wild (dub-con, but we later learn that consentual non-con is like their thing, so idk 🤷🏻♂️ they don't really talk about it though). Their behavior is still weird after you've read everything because they shouldn't act like that after the timeskip. I really don't get why that prolog exists. After that, we REALLY start from the beginning. Here's the thing. I don't like it when people complain about the tropes of a book when they are clearly stated before. I knew this was a "best friends dad romance." I like taboo topics if done well. This didn't lie about the trope, and it technically isn't wrong, but the story is way different from what I imagined. Raven and Clint meet when Raven is 9. His mom is a drug addict and alcoholic. Clint is a police officer and helps Raven. He stays over sometimes befriending Clint's son Joey. When Raven is 13, he stays with them full-time, and Clint even gets legal guardianship... at 17 Raven falls in love with him. Nothing happens then. They move out, Raven distances himself, but when he comes back at 23 (after becoming a tattoo artist) and he and Clint (40) spend a summer together, feelings get revealed. This is where the blurb of the book comes in. So, I think the trope is a bit misleading because, well, first of all, he kinda raised him! That is basically his son! I will say, the book does a good job at making it seem different. Still, this is not just his best friends dad. Speaking of that friend, Joey is barely part of the story anyway. He is in that military program and away for most of the time. Besides instilling guilt in them, he doesn't add much. Their friendship also has the "show don't tell" issue, which makes sense since he isn't there most of the time! One of the most interesting things about a premise like this imo is the sneaking around (which they don't really have to do, since nobody else is there), and later reactions from parents/friends etc. (none in the picture or barley there. Only liked Bobby). Also... (spoiler ahead), Raven also casually sleeps with Joey (before Clint, but knowing he is in love with him), and thinks that wouldn't have any consequences 🙃 This whole thing is so weird and takes like 50 pages to set up. It felt like the author struggled to create a setup that would allow them to be around each other, so they created this convoluted scenario... I had to take notes/make up a time line to even get their ages. Now, a bit about their relationship. I liked that they became friends first and had some really good talks. They were even like "this can't just be about sex," which it wasn't, but there was a lot of that as well. It's just that at around 51%, they got more and more obsessed with each other. That was also mentioned as a trope, and I generally don't have a problem with it, but it depends on how it's written, and I didn't like it here. It was too over the top and melodramatic for me. It didn't feel believable. Especially since not much happened in that time. I liked the relationship, but it became boring. Then something actually big happened, and the dynamic became more extreme. That was just sad. Everything felt miserable, and it dragged out forever, like the back and forth would never end. Since we were already spoiled by the prolog about their breakup, I was just waiting for that. This is also where another trope from the description of the book comes in: second chance romance. I disagree with that, though, because for me, that is when the characters had a relationship before the book starts, and then the whole story is about them getting together again. Here, we see them getting together first, and the breakup is at around 80%. That 50 pages at the end isn't long enough to be a whole trope. Just adds to the false image you have of this book before starting. Why do I always have to write so much about books I didn't like 😂 Guess I need to rant somewhere, so it didn't feel like I wasted my time 😅