i’ve come to terms that the writing is just not good. somehow it lulls you into this almost false feeling of unique or nice prose but it’s truly just overwrought, self indulgent, uninteresting and pretentious. the repetition is getting grating (everyone is looking at her ...DEAD ON 😳) and since it’s a novella it feels even more repetitive. the metaphors are truly awful. it doesn't even feel human. my brain cannot process a human being creating these metaphors + other human beings editing this and still thinking that it felt natural or authentic in any way. there are some sweet moments with the romance and every so often a lovely atmosphere or food description. not impressed overall.

read chapter 1 and i’m already 10% in so sticking with this as it’s a short, sweet read. summer in france and finding love is also high incentive to keep going despite this being quite heavy handed in prose. it’s not pretentious (yet) but hovering there. in a really (REALLY) try hard kind of way. not pretentious in a lush "purple prose" way like roshani chokshki. not pretentious in an intentional way like donna tart. i don’t even think it’s pretentious in a “put the fucking thesaurus down” way. it’s just one of those writing styles that you can tell the author is trying deeply and aggressively to come off as pretty, aesthetic, different, quotable but it’s not working for me. i also find the characters very unnatural but if this leans into the camp of a summer romcom i’ll let it slide.