When I chose this book to read, it wasn't a blind read. With that being said, wasn't because I thought I'd enjoy it, or perhaps someone had recommended it. While I will talk about "Haunting Adeline" in this review, I moreso want to use its contents and nature to critique a genre in which is a poison increasingly tainting modern trending YA works.

Unbeknownst to Colleen Hoover's reputation, I added this to my Amazon wishlist when it first came out soome years back. Now, I am not a Colleen Hoover fan. If anything, I might describe myself as a Colleen Hoover hater. I digress that this is a somewhat well-written book, with good intentions and partial follow through. Yes, it might seem like a graduated Wattpad, and is only really enjoyable for 15-year-olds that can ignore plot holes consistently for the sake of a shallow narrative. With that being said, I have even more grievances since going back to reread years later from a more critical lens, but we'll get into all of that.

I love a good rom com. Sometimes before bed, I just need to unwind with a juvenile, watered down story between two superficial characters, which is never predictable or unrealistic. And yes, I know I sound like such a cynic, because in some parts I am. Out of any genre, I find I'm the pickiest with anything that has romance as a central point. Personally, I find it very hard to execute a romantic story that is palpable to readers or watchers. I want the characters to end up together because I know they need to be together; not because the story's sense of direction has influenced me into believing it's the only way things make sense. There are few books specifically that I find an exception to this rule, with couples that I fall in love with as an entity, while they fall in love with each other: and Beach Read  is one of those exceptions. 

I'm writing this book review at midnight on a random Thursday, as I'm struck with a particular streak of creativity that needs an outlet. Some of you might be more familiar with I'm Thinking of Ending Things from Netflix, although the story originated from the 2016 novel by Iain Reid. There was even a trend on TikTok for a brief amount of time where people would get "under the influence" and watch the movie, as the experience was more surreal. While I am not familiar with the movie adaptation, the book has made it evident I should be adding the movie version to my list of films to watch.