The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde - UPDATED REVIEW

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde  Genre : Classics Blurb (on back of book) : Oscar Wilde’s only novel is the dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind. UPDATED REVIEW MY OPINION : ****** I would like to start out this review by stating that this is undoubtedly m...

So Not Meant To Be - Meghan Quinn

So Not Meant To Be by Meghan Quinn
Genre: Romance

Blurb (on back of book): From author Meghan Quinn, comes a fresh take on a romantic comedy classic, When Harry Met Sally. This steamy, laugh-out-loud, enemies to lovers romance is about an annoyingly handsome coworker and the woman who refuses to be charmed by him.
Am I friends with JP Cane?
Ha! That's laughable.
Besides the fact that he’s adopted some far-fetched notion from the movie When Harry Met Sally that says men and women can't be friends and work together, it’s safe to say we're not friends. He's annoyingly loud, obnoxiously handsome, and has made an art out of poking all my hot buttons . . . multiple times a day.
So you can imagine how disgruntled I am when I not only have to fly to San Francisco with him for work, but stay in the same penthouse. Yup, we're sharing the same air, twenty-four-seven. We're talking full-fledged working roommates.
The man doesn't know what it means to wear a shirt, thrives off protein bars, and you guessed it, moans loud enough for people to believe he's Meg Ryan in a restaurant.
Spoiler Alert: I WON'T be having what he's having.
Tack on his continuous flirting and his polished good looks, and I'm caught staring down the barrel of a seductive temptation that makes it hard for me to sleep at night.
But guess who can control herself? This girl.
Because if there is one thing I know for certain, it's that JP Cane and I are so not meant to be.

MY OPINION: ****

I ate this book up and I don't know what else there is to say about it. 

This was so much better than the first book in this series, which is apparently an unpopular opinion. I loved JP and Kelsey so much and I also loved the premise of this book a lot more. 

It read more as enemies to lovers, which we all know is my favorite trope ever. JP is clearly obsessed with Kelsey, no matter how crazy or insane she acts and I loved it so much. I loved him so incredibly much and I think he was my favorite of the three brothers (I've since read all three books in the series). He's hilarious, obsessed with Kelsey, and adorably in love with helping out PIGEONS, which was so cute and quirky. His relationship with his brothers was so cute and it was fun seeing him use them as therapists for trying to figure out his feelings for Kelsey. 

I loved learning more about him and the way he felt like he didn't fit in with his brothers at the company. It was so fulfilling to see him figure out what he did actually want and stand up to his brothers. He was so misunderstood and while his personality was very different from what I had expected from the first book, it was refreshing to read.

The jealousy trope went crazy in this book and I ate it up. Kelsey does NOT see JP in the same way he sees her for a good amount of the book and it drives him insane. She even goes out on dates with this other guy, which ramps up the jealousy deliciously (no worries, there is no cheating trope). He is willing to change his entire way of life for her and his perspective on relationships or lack thereof in his life and it was so fun to read. 

Kelsey. Everyone and their mother apparently hated her but I cannot see why. Sure, she was a little mean to JP at first but if you ask me, she was just being real. She definitely did not realize her own feelings and felt like she was being trapped in by an idea of love that she could not fulfill with JP, who she saw as a manwhore. She just wanted to find true love and her happily ever after, and constant rejection and failures to find the one caused her to lash out in a justified manner, if you ask me. 

True, she did not know JP beyond her own assumptions, but can you really blame her? He portrayed himself to her in a certain way in the beginning and though there was clearly more to him, she hadn't had a chance to see that yet. Sure, she could have made more of an effort to get to know him but she didn't think she liked him so why would she?? She's not obligated to pursue him??

I do think her thoughts about Huxley and Lottie were a little off-putting but I can understand where she was coming from. Clearly, those two pack on the PDA and for someone who's single and desperately wanting a relationship, it can clearly be painful to be around that all the time. Especially given Kelsey's deep rooted insecurities about herself and her comparisons to Lottie, it wasn't that crazy to think that she might be jealous of their relationship. Y'all are just some haters.

I loved the podcast about all the couples and their relationships and to find out that Meghan Quinn has written a book about each of them was crazy. I want to read their books so bad but I just don't have time, but I will read them based on which tropes I think sound the most interesting. 

The third act conflict was ridiculous. If JP used his yapping skills to just communicate to Kelsey what he was going through, all of that could so easily have been avoided. I'm sick of the miscommunication trope.

Overall, I loved this book. I thought it was much more fun than the first one and I appreciated JP and Kelsey so much. I loved their relationship and highly recommend this book to readers looking for a cute rom-com.

Main Character: Kelsey, JP
Sidekick(s): Lottie, Breaker, Huxley, etc
Villain(s): Misunderstandings, assumptions, etc
Romance Elements: This was a rom com to its core. 

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