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A review by kayhush
Unbearably Yours by Elodie Colliard
3.0
I am a sucker for a Canadian-set romance. While this one didn't have as many Canadianisms (Old Dutch boxed chips, for example), it had more of the stunning nature and wildlife found in British Columbia.
Overall, this was a lighthearted and fluffy read with the angst and drama centered around the time-jumps and letter-writing component. Why did they stop talking? Why didn't they meet up as planned? This is the primary relationship conflict and focuses heavily on the delay of information. If you are looking for an easy-reading romance with neurodivergence representation (primarily hypersensitivity and giftedness), then give this book a go.
The remainder of this review will focus on some of the aspects I didn't enjoy as much, and may be considered spoilers. CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
My primary issue with this story is that there is a certain level of suspension of disbelief that is needed. The fact that this journalism program had a component that utilized written pen pals seemed a bit off to me. Why wasn't this done digitally? It starts in 2017, so it isn't from pre-email or online forums. I have had multiple courses that utilized online forums for peer feedback so I was having trouble getting on board with the premise from the start. I wish this had been tightened up a bit because I kept getting distracted by my disbelief. Had this been done digitally, my next concerns would not have been an issue at all. Though, letter writing does have its own level of romance so that certainly works in its favor.
Another aspect that I struggled with was that we could tell by the content of the letters that we were reading all of them. Topics were carried from one to the next, and we could tell that there were no letters between the ones we were reading. This meant that this entire relationship was based on 25 letters over the span of one year, each being maybe a page or two long in written form. Considering that they started as complete strangers, I had trouble believing that this all-encompassing, never-get-over-it relationship could develop.
Finally, another aspect I had trouble believing was that Oliver couldn't find Charlee after their letters ended. Oliver stated that he tried to find her online, but that she was completely off the grid. But yet, she had been a journalist writing and publishing stories all over the world, in the same industry as Oliver (journalism) and with the same focus (environmentalism). How could a simple Google search not bring up her pieces and therefore what company she worked for and contact information? She may not have had public social media platforms, but she certainly would have had a name online.
Thank you to Victory Editing, NetGalley, and Elodie Colliard for a digital advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Overall, this was a lighthearted and fluffy read with the angst and drama centered around the time-jumps and letter-writing component. Why did they stop talking? Why didn't they meet up as planned? This is the primary relationship conflict and focuses heavily on the delay of information. If you are looking for an easy-reading romance with neurodivergence representation (primarily hypersensitivity and giftedness), then give this book a go.
The remainder of this review will focus on some of the aspects I didn't enjoy as much, and may be considered spoilers. CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
My primary issue with this story is that there is a certain level of suspension of disbelief that is needed. The fact that this journalism program had a component that utilized written pen pals seemed a bit off to me. Why wasn't this done digitally? It starts in 2017, so it isn't from pre-email or online forums. I have had multiple courses that utilized online forums for peer feedback so I was having trouble getting on board with the premise from the start. I wish this had been tightened up a bit because I kept getting distracted by my disbelief. Had this been done digitally, my next concerns would not have been an issue at all. Though, letter writing does have its own level of romance so that certainly works in its favor.
Another aspect that I struggled with was that we could tell by the content of the letters that we were reading all of them. Topics were carried from one to the next, and we could tell that there were no letters between the ones we were reading. This meant that this entire relationship was based on 25 letters over the span of one year, each being maybe a page or two long in written form. Considering that they started as complete strangers, I had trouble believing that this all-encompassing, never-get-over-it relationship could develop.
Finally, another aspect I had trouble believing was that Oliver couldn't find Charlee after their letters ended. Oliver stated that he tried to find her online, but that she was completely off the grid. But yet, she had been a journalist writing and publishing stories all over the world, in the same industry as Oliver (journalism) and with the same focus (environmentalism). How could a simple Google search not bring up her pieces and therefore what company she worked for and contact information? She may not have had public social media platforms, but she certainly would have had a name online.
Thank you to Victory Editing, NetGalley, and Elodie Colliard for a digital advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.