a secret psychopath, a guy named after a printing company, and drunk kid who excels at hobby horsing--what more do you need from a YA romcom?

im afraid my rating is high not bc the plot was great, but bc it felt like a hilarious fever dream mixed in with some cute romance scenes 😭

lets talk~

about sadie, our aforementioned psycho. i was genuinely sitting here like...when are we gonna find the dead body? from the first line, i found her really relatable, but it all started to go down hill. exhibit a: her most unhinged email

"sometimes i dream about throttling you. i would do it slowly. i would do it when you werent ready, when you were relaxed. i imagine wrapping my hands around your long, pale throat and watching the fear bloom in your eyes. i imagine your skin turning red, your breathing quickening as you struggle. i want to watch you in pain, up close. i want you to beg me. i want you to admit you were wrong, that ive won. maybe you would even sink to your knees for me. plead for mercy. that would be fun, but even then, it wouldn't be enough--"

"because beneath my apprehension is the stronger, deeply ingrained need to be liked. to be accepted. to be forgiven. to be recognized as good."

julius, our guy named after a printing company. was he bipolar? the constant switching up between being kind of nice to acting like a jerk to flirting gave me whiplash. but plus 3 points for having good taste in stationary--we love moleskin in this household. i honestly don't have much to say about him. he was pretty underdeveloped. his family drama was interesting but not brought up until later on in the book. and considering he and sadie have known each other for ten years, i was expecting more of a...connection(?) between them, but we were not given that. the banter was eating tho, when they weren't getting on my nerves. he also punched a guy in the face and like..ig him and sadie are a good match for each other then. maybe they should become tag team wwe fighters. BUT he did provide the cute romantic moments so props for that 👏👏

now, to the drunk hobby horser, he was just one of the many side characters/ moments that made me actually laugh out loud. the caz song cameo, the girl who was behind on the drama, the guy who screamed bc of his skincare routine, dave saying "oh! oh, okay. really loving the confidence here." (aka me every time sadie did something embarrassing, which was enough to make me want to fly to a different country and start a new identity for her).

so that's why i cant rate this any lower than a 3. like,,,i just had too much fun. this is already really long, so im not going to get into the actual plot or the 2 horrendous excuses for brothers but just know

my jaw was absolutely DROPPED from page 290 to the end like...what a full circle moment 😀

3.75!