Love Is for Losers
by Wibke Brueggemann
Pub Date: 23 Feb 2021
Read courtesy of http://netgalley.com
DNF at 36%.
Ask anyone; I'm not a prude. I used to teach HIV/AIDS education to high schoolers and got them to shout 'penis' in their classrooms. But having a friend of one's mother (Kate) explain about a clitoris to a 15 year old (Phoebe), and then telling the 15 year old to explain that all to another 15 year old friend, so the friend will enjoy sex more, is beyond necessary in a YA book. As is the 40-something Kate publicly mooning over a 23-year old waiter.
The characters were flat and uninteresting. The main character, Phoebe, lived in a perpetual pity party; it quickly got old listening to her complain. None of the characters were described in enough detail to make me care about them. And there were only so many times I could listen to Phoebe describe Kate as a cat lady. I get it; Kate likes cats.
I initially enjoyed the snarky, sarcastic humor in the story, but it never was enough to overcome the poor writing style (diary-like with conversational grammar and spelling) that makes Phoebe come across as whiny instead of clever. The times that the author included actual life wisdoms instead of lecturing about sex were the only redeeming aspects of the story.
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