📝 What is You’re The Problem, It’s You About?:
Bobby Mason is tired of being second best: never trusted, never expected to amount to much, and he’s done watching everyone else squander their privilege. That’s why he can’t stand James Demeroven, the new Viscount who’s always been quiet and careful—but to Bobby, he’s just infuriatingly weak. When their families are threatened by an extortionist, they’ll have to set aside their differences and work together, though sparks fly between them with every conversation.
📚 Genre: romance
🎧 Format: ARC E-Book
💞 Feels: ⭐⭐⭐.5
Enjoyed reading a continuation of Gwen and Beth’s story within this new romance story. Much like the first book, the more romance the better – and getting two romance stories in one was appreciated. Plus, it was great to see the perspective of the couple, James and Bobby, that the two ladies are “trapping” this time around.
I had been very curious to see more of Gwen and Beth’s parents in the first book, so had a fun time seeing the love story from James and Bobby’s POVs.
Always love an enemies-to-lovers romance story. James and Bobby were very good at arguing with each other, their turn towards reluctant allies to lovers seemed a bit abrupt for me. But since we do know from their perspectives that they do like each other, it just seemed like they needed one more honest conversation to make the switch a little more believable. James’ anxiety allowed me to do a lot of handwaving, though, about how other characters are perceiving and interacting with him. So glad he found a wonderful family to be around.
It was interesting to see the difference between the lesbian and gay love stories. The men seem to have more “freedom” than the ladies did in the first book. But the stakes of being caught are very high.
I felt James’ social anxiety. He was a really sweet character, who just could not get out of his own way. His mouth was definitely his worst enemy, constantly getting him in trouble and misunderstood. I really felt for him and hoped that the larger cast of characters would understand him a little better. Or that he’d realize a little sooner that they were a support system for him that he wasn’t seeing.
Getting technical
I really enjoyed the setup of James and Bobby’s story in the epilogue of Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend. School crushes, love those; enemies-to-lovers, amazing; more matchmaking, so good. But similarly to how I said I wanted to see more of the POV of the couple being setup, I wish this book had more details on how Beth and Gwen were matchmaking and scheming. It seemed like they weren’t doing much to pair them together. Or maybe it was hard to tell since James and Bobby just kept fighting.
I enjoyed the drama of this book. Definitely displayed more emotion and high stakes (imprisonment) than the previous book. Was so glad to see Gwen and Beth still being part of the story, so that it was a continuation of their love story, while looping in another couple.
Bobby and James’ love story felt rushed to me, a majority of the book focused on them fighting. They were a slow burn, with very little time focused on them warming up to each other. There wasn’t enough time for them to make the switch to lovers outwardly. The reader knows they like each other, at least James’ POV more than Bobby’s relates that. It felt like Bobby was just going along with it. Like he had an epiphany of, “I want to settle down. How ’bout James?! He’s cute.” Abrupt.
You’ll like this book, if…
You’ll like this book, if you like more dramatic victorian romances. Think Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre or An Offer from a Gentleman (my favorite Bridgerton book).
✅ Spinoff novella nomination:
N/A
What are you reading? Let me know in the comments.