I enjoyed this one less than usual because of how sport-heavy the plot is, and how this affects the rest of the story, leaving less space for characters' moments. I do love Kristy and I know she'd be a great coach.

Maybe this wasn't the best choice for the title (I had to remind myself who "the walking disaster" was supposed to be more than once), but there is still a comfort story with a sweet moral 🧁

And the way he looks at me, like he cannot believe that I am here. Like I am greater than any fantasy, any fiction.

Like the author said, this book was a love letter to romance readers. It really shows how much she is dedicated to the romance community, and the main character, Joonie, never stops talking about it. How reading romance books is empowering, the importance of community for women, the fact that it helped create a safe space to talk about sexuality and other taboo topics, and remove the shame around these discussions. I loved everything about this, I was like "Yes. I am in the right place".

Joonie is a badass and I loved seeing her saving the man for once! This is the only reason I rounded it up to three stars, I love a great heroine who breaks book stereotypes.

It's one of the few books where I liked more the first part than the rest of it, it started so strong. The author's note was very sweet and the first chapters (before the trip, so Joonie's dates and the general introduction of characters and background info) I was HOOKED, in love, glued to the pages. But then... augh.

I started losing interest when Joonie decided to "stalker" this life "Ryke" (I found it so creepy 😭) and then she disconnected her brain during their accident and made the most dumb choices. I honestly started skipping the mer's story parts after the first half of the book, I know that they were a mirror to the main story, but they got so boring. I just couldn't read about mers and sirens anymore, I wish the author made them shorter, or just put less chapters.

For a romance book, A LOT of non-romance was happening. Maybe this book just wanted to be too many things at once. Nico was cute, but we didn't really dive into his character too much. Her brother and his partner are easily forgettable, and their parents are mentioned enough times that I thought they would make like a surprise cameo during a fight scene or something.

Also, Joonie has this whole trauma that she carried for a decade and that shaped her personality, she literally never shuts up about it, without actually telling us what exactly happened. It drove me nuts. And then... she gets over it in a day ! Girl, are you okay? I feel like they didn't really talk about it. This annoyed me so much i wanted to DNF.

Basically, this book had all the right ingredients, but unfortunately it didn't deliver the way I wanted it to. I really liked the author, so maybe I'll try something else of her.