This book review proves that multi-author collections “work” in the sense of introducing readers to authors they might not otherwise pick up. I can’t remember why I passed on So Into You when I first saw it on Netgalley, but I did. Maybe I thought it looked like a rom-com with the cartoon cover, but didn’t really sound like one. There isn’t much funny (in my own opinion) about social anxiety, so maybe there’s that.
On a subsequent visit, I recognized Kathleen Fuller’s name from reading Mistletoe Season, and decided to take a closer look. I’m so glad I did. Even though this story is still not a rom com!
Artist Britt Branch has a successful online channel where she teaches a variety of art lessons. Obsessed with the 1970s, she has a style all her own. But she also has a huge problem–severe social anxiety. She lives with her mom, and while she pays her own bills, she wonders if she’ll ever have the courage to move out and move on. When her best friend announces she’s getting married, Britt decides it’s time to make a change.
Gorgeous Hunter Pickett has always skated by on his model looks, applying very little effort to anything except sports, and even that was iffy at times. The third son of extremely wealthy and successful parents, he dealt with being the black sheep of the family by drinking and using drugs. By his third year of sobriety, he’s still dealing with aimlessness. Late one night he catches Britt’s channel and ends up watching her videos. He’s not interested in art . . . at first. And when he sends her an online message, he’s surprised she responds. Before long they are chatting every day, and once they start meeting in person, a spark-filled friendship begins.
But both of them are keeping secrets. Big ones. When all truths are revealed in one pivotal moment, Britt and Hunter are at a crossroads. Will he fight for the happiness he’s worked so hard to obtain? And will she continue to hide from life, or can she finally step out of her own shadow?
Is it my imagination, or are there more heroines with big issues these days? Britt Branch isn’t just a little introverted — she’s crippled by social anxiety in a big way. She’s a vlogger (video blogger) with a popular art-based YouTube channel. Bonus? She doesn’t have to leave the house very often… and she doesn’t. She lives with her divorced mom, paying her own way, but the thought of being totally on her own is more than she can handle.
Hunter is a recovering bad boy who watches Britt’s channel to unwind. He finds her endearing, and when he realizes that one of her sponsors is an art-supply shop local to him in the Dallas area, he wonders if there might be a chance to meet her. He begins commenting on her videos and, of course, they do meet (entirely accidentally) at that store.
Meanwhile, Britt’s high-school teacher mom and delinquent dad are also POV characters. Her dad, who’d walked out on them when Britt was eight, has reached out to her and reconnected, unbeknownst to Mom. He’s a recovering alcoholic working as a chauffeur for a wealthy lawyer. Britt knows her mom would totally flip out if she knew Britt was seeing Dad, so she doesn’t tell her.
That sets the pattern for secrets between all the characters. Britt’s not telling her mom about her dad. Her mom isn’t telling Britt about the new guy she is (possibly) seeing. Hunter isn’t telling Britt that he’s a recovering alcoholic and ex-drug-user, or who his family is. Dad’s not telling anyone anything.
It doesn’t take long for the reader to begin to imagine the explosion when the secrets find their voices, because we can see it coming, where each character only knows his or her part, not how their stories intersect. If you can call it intersecting when there’s an explosion! I don’t want to say too much, but the point is, yes, everyone intersects, yes, it’s intentional, and yes, it’s worth the ka-bang toward the end. But the ka-bang is not the very end. There is still soul-searching and trust-renewal issues beyond. And… I’ve said enough.
So, do I recommend this novel? Yes, I’d give it a solid 4.5/5. If you’re ready for a more solid, non-seasonal read, give So Into You a try. It releases December 3, so not long to wait now!
I received a NetGalley review copy but was not required to leave a positive review.
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