Tips for Tuesday- Books: Late Bloomer & Till Death Do Us Part, and Movie: A Rocky Mountain Affair

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Books: Late Bloomer & Till Death Do Us Part

Me - There were some really strong elements to Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings. First and foremost, the representation was great! Almost every character was queer, including possibly the most bisexual characters I've ever seen in one book. There was also neurodivergent representation which seemed to be handled with a lot of care.

The main characters, Opal and Pepper, were pretty relatable in many ways. However, certain aspects of their personalities felt too unrealistic. For instance, Opal was a people pleaser but, especially at the beginning, the degree to which she was willing to bend over backwards for anyone regardless of how poorly they treated her felt extravagant. Then, she decided to try and stand up for herself more, and it was as if she had flipped a switch and instantly solved the issue. The ease with which she stopped letting people step all over her made me wonder why she had ever done it in the first place.

The romance was cute but I didn't totally feel the connection between Opal and Pepper. Things between them developed a bit too quickly for my liking and it felt more like lust than love. However, there were still cute moments they shared together and I liked the way Opal showed up for Pepper and Pepper looked out for Opal in a way neither of them had experienced before.

The plot was slow-moving. At times, I found myself wishing it would move faster. For the first 50% of the book especially I felt like barely anything happened, That said, outside of the main plot, there were some more emotional storylines that were well done. I especially liked the depiction of grief.

Overall, this wasn't a favorite romance for me but if the story sounds interesting to you and/or you're looking for neurodivergent representation and an easy-to-read sapphic romance with slightly heavier topics throughout, give this one a try.

Mom - Today I will be talking about  Till Death Do Us Part by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn On the verge of her second marriage, June is convinced she sees her late husband, Josh who allegedly drowned on their honeymoon, and she becomes determined to find out the truth about his death or if he is even actually dead at all. 

This book starts out as an exciting thriller. However, somewhere along the way, things go awry. Convenient plot twists are thrown in that sound like something out of a soap opera as well as other plot twists that don't make any sense or go anywhere. On top of that the reader is expected to believe that even though June's late husband was a certain kind of person, he completely changed when he married her even though we don't really get to see much of that alleged character development or their relationship. 

Much of the book isn't even about June at all. It is about Josh's mother and how she is torn between her family and her love for another woman. This has very little to do with June's story except that you do get to learn things about Josh through his mother although most of what is learned about Josh is through hearsay from what the other characters say because even in the flashbacks he doesn't appear that much.

There are interesting elements to this story, however, they don't seem to go together well. Thus, even though the ending is satisfactory in that all the loose ends are tied up, it still feels like something is missing.

Today we are talking about A Rocky Mountain Affair. This is a mostly cliched film about a city girl and a country boy where everything happens at warp speed because there is no time for any real believable development of the relationship. Plus a lot of things happen that only happen in movies.  The saving grace is that the couple at the movie's center are cute and have decent chemistry. If you are in it for the romance and the plot doesn't really matter to you, you will probably enjoy this movie. However, if you are looking for something with a unique and interesting plot, believable character development, and a relationship that doesn't seem rushed, you might want to look somewhere else. 

And that's our view. Tune in tomorrow for Where-To-Go Wednesday.

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