I think I wanted a different book from what I got. The romance is the central plot while, to me, it felt like the very real discrimination Genevieve faces is presented as background noise. Or worse, it would become an opportunity for the rich white man to come to her defense and prove he’s antiracist and self-aware. It felt like a lot of the dialogue between the two leads was just Jude announcing to Genevieve what he’s done to change, and then she would say something about how he’s still the same guy from four years ago. So all the focus ends up being on him (being a boring man) while Genevieve stays mostly undeveloped. Also throughout I found it very hard to believe that a green energy CEO from a suburb would make the cover of People magazine or the evening news multiple days in a row. Why does anyone in this town even care?

What I hoped for was for the romance to be the subplot to a racial scandal storyline. Something like: Genevieve uncovers an even darker history of prejudice at her paper (i.e. Jennifer), which builds on her own experience. She links up with Regina (who has her own blog/column or something about this that G doesn’t seem curious about??) to publish an exposé on her own employer. She grows tired of Jude’s dual personalities and inability to understand her struggle to fit in with his family. She comes back at the end to date the handsome Mexican restaurant server. Done.

But in the book the exposé part was outsourced to the New York Times shortly before it ends

So much potential here, but it’s just not what I hoped for.