I saw someone comment that the catch to doing press ons vs going to the salon is the compulsion to buy sets upon sets upon sets lol. I personally have like 9 or 10 unopened sets in my backstock but wondering how many others keep around? Mainly I’d just love an excuse to keep buying!
Interested to hear others’ opinions on it. I know it has been compared to Heated Rivalry quite a bit in the lead up to its release, but it was not even close. I personally am not really a purist when it comes to adaptations so I don’t care about the changes made to it, but it was so lackluster! Belmont Camelli is insanely hot, but he could not have been more dull on screen. Any chemistry he had with Ella Bright was 100% due to her. He was horrible at showing any emotion! Maybe part of that was the writing too because the only complimentary thing I can recall hearing Garrett even say to Hannah was that he liked hearing her sing. Pretty much nothing sweet was even said other than the “I love you” (which Hannah basically initiated by the way). There has been a lot of talk about the sex scenes but it was utterly vanilla and non-titillating. And the ending - ok, he didn’t initiate a hands-off rule, fine but did he even really care they were broken up? He didn’t try to contact her, he was told about the showcase and just showed up, in fact he had to be pressured to go. Some random vague “she deserves better than me”. And then a 5-second conversation (which again, Hannah initiates) and they’re back together. He never expressed that he missed her, didn’t grovel or anything. Just completely lacking.
As for the things I did like, they did a significantly better job with Allie and Dean. Despite Dean’s Carlisle Cullen hair which I had a hard time looking past, (also the fact he looks 35) the progression of their relationship was so much more convincing. Their sex scenes were also more explicit too which honestly is needed on a show like this, it shows their intimacy.
I’m still thrilled about the amount of adaptations coming out in the future but bummed about this one. Don’t know if I will even be tuning in for season two.
I try not to be influenced too much by social media for books, but this one received so much mainstream praise too - Reese’s book club etc. Spoilers to follow ——>
Let me just say I needed some time to process how much I hated Noah before writing this. If they are meant to be soul mates then I feel bad for AJ because fate seriously fucked her over.
AJ behaves like a sad doormat for most of this book. To Noah, to her coworkers and friends, (like Toni who she inexplicably forgives after being iced out for a literal decade). She doesn’t fight for what she wants with Noah or point out his wrongdoings without immediately regretting it. His actions scream over and over again that he’s a piece of shit, yet she keeps going back for more.
Then we have Noah, our self-victimizing, self-pitying MMC. What planet does he live on where treating someone like that is somehow less painful than him getting sick when he’s older? Does he think he’s the first person on earth to be sick and have their spouse care for them? Does he understand devotion or loyalty or empathy taking precedence in the face of difficult situations? His behavior leading up to the third act is dismal, AJ’s behavior in response is pathetic and sad: she basically allows him to ruin her 20s. But the book uses the magical “fated mates” thing (that doesn’t really belong in the story anyway) to do all the heavy lifting in repairing their unhealthy dynamic.
Then we have the third act itself. I’ll admit, it’s definitely a little dreamy when they’re finally together. Brodie writes their intimacy brilliantly - that was probably the most successful part of the book for me, so I gave an extra star for that. But then Noah attempts to break things off (yet again) and I was so irritated at how insanely self-centered he was that I started skimming to the end. Their play? Didn’t understand a bit of it. The improv throughout the whole book was confusing but the play was especially - almost pretentiously - abstract. And then after all of that, just for Noah to return at the end with nary a valid reason given? Girl. I’m annoyed.
I will say it had me pretty into it for most of the book, even despite it being overly long. Wondering if anyone else felt this way too!
And damn are they curved! I normally fill in the gap between the c curve and my flat nail bed with extra curvlife glue and just wait for it to dry instead of pushing down too hard… and I could barely even do that with these! I had to resort to using a sticky tab in the center and then curvlife on top of that. And they were really rigid when I tried to bend them flat too. Sad because they’re so cute, next time I’ll have to try the hot water/hair dryer trick to flatten them first! (ignore my cuticles I’m a biter) retail brand: glamnetic, style name: uhh