hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm i don't really know how I feel about this because there was literally one bit at the beginning that almost made me DNF like a champ. the writing was good. Tony was good. Amber was... goodish.here's the thing though, when i got to this: "Even before college, her faith in God and goodness had started to fray, and the summer break she spent in the slums outside Cape Town doing charity work with a group of Nazarene students left it in tatters"... "God wasn't watching. There might be a God, or there might not - she hasn't made up her mind about that. But she'd seen enough dire poverty and need in South Africa to shake her out of her complacence." i almost threw my phone out the window.as a reader, this turned Amber into that person who has no concept of how shitty this kind of white savior bullshit is. this turned Amber into the type of woman who tries to explain to me she knows how hard it is to be black cause she spent a summer in a South African slum and it was sooooooo hard. this made me side-eye Amber so hard. i was just sitting there thinking, don't blame God. BLAME THE DUTCH! BLAME EUROPEAN GREED! i can't begin to even unpack Africa and white savior complexes and a bunch of other shit that has me rubbing my forehead in a goodreads review. i don't expect every one to be hip to global race relations. i really don't. i am most of the time i'm okay (as in ive come to terms, sort of) with the fact that romancelandia is overwhelmingly white, but i would honestly authors left this type of shit out. seriously. this story is so short, and her faith is actually not a crucial part to their relationship development at all, this seemed so unnecessary. so yeah, this is more like a 2.5. it could have been a 5.
