My husband used to work with a 19 year old kid who was obviously in love with his best friend. Everyday this kid would talk nonstop about his best friend, but he rarely called her by name, he mostly just said "My friend said..." or "Me and my best friend..."

My husband would come home everyday to regale me with stories of this kid and his best friend. It was cute and a little immature. Silly and sweet in the way that being a kid in love for the first time and not knowing how to communicate and work through it like an adult can be.

This book gave me flashbacks to that kid. It was absolutely cringey the way Luke kept referring to Layla as his best friend. Do adults refer to their best friends as their best friends constantly? I don't.

You know what else was cringey? The nickname "Little One"

That is what I call MY CHILD.

Layla was the worst. She was nOt LiKe oThEr gIrLs in the absolutle worst way. She wore conservative clothes, which is fine (women can dress however they like), but she used that as a point of superiority. There was even a point where she said something about women in oversized cardigans don't get kidnapped or some fucking bullshit like that. She also said she dressed that way to keep her creep boss from checking her out and essentially slut shamed the women in the office who dress in low cut tops because he ogles them.

I was wearing a low cut top while listening to this. I was not amused.

She's also immature to the point that it was infuriating. I think the author was trying too hard to be funny and make Layla cool, but it came off as annoying and childish. Layla says that her first week of work she learned that people didn't appreciate when you sign into a meeting as "Ben Dover" and it's implied she drew a graphic penis in the women's restroom. Look, I find penises and all that funny, too, but Not. AT. Work. We're supposed to sympathize with Layla for having to work at a terrible uptight place with a creepy boss and women in tight clothes and no sense of humor, but instead I felt like she was the real problem.

The geek references were also forced. It was Game of Thrones this, Harry Potter that, Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars. It felt like the author was paid per pop culture reference, so was trying to stick them in when they didn't even fit.

Layla even laments that her Game of Thrones joke didn't land in her forst week of work, and again I am like "Calling your work place Westeros isn't really a joke and also who references GoT in 2023???"

I haven't worn my GoT shirt since the travesty of a finale and I haven't referenced HP since finding out Joanne is a big old TERF. I am tired of rom-coms making lazy references to these mainstream "geek" franchises to show that their heroine is geeky. There are loads of geeky fandoms to explore, let's quit with the basic "geek girl", we can do better.

When I am trying to fix a story in my head it is time to quit.