Book Review: hello (from here) by Chandler Baker and Wesley King
I’m a little unsure how to rate this book. It was slow to begin with but slowly got better over time. Though for a romance, this book was a bit depressing (primarily because of the time it takes place in).
This book was published during COVID-19 and occurred during the first big spike of the pandemic. While I read this in 2023, this book felt a little too… fresh. I’m not sure of the right word. We read romance stories that take place in other big world historical events like WW2, but the COVID-19 pandemic is too close to home and feels too soon. The world was challenging for a while, and I don’t know if people want to relive that wound so early. Having had COVID-19 myself (thankfully a milder version), I didn’t really need a reminder of all the craziness we all lived through in recent years.
Covid-19 aside, the book itself was a bit depressing. I mean, I get it. A lot of people died or were sick, and many other tragic things happened during 2020. But for a romance book, I wasn’t expecting it to be this dark. I will say, though, that Jonah’s anxiety was done really well, and I love the LGBTQ+ rep that was treated so normally. But there were a lot of things that made this book a downer. It works for the time it takes place in, but yeah. I was hoping for some extra cute lockdown moments. We had some, but then they got depressing again.
I also really hated the font. I don’t blame the authors on this one, though. I blame the publisher’s poor choice in font selection. It worked for the texts we see, but it’s super ugly for the main story.
I think this book would be better if I had read it a few years from now as opposed to the world finally returning to somewhat normal. I’m not sure I would feel any different about it, as, again, lots of depressing things, but I think I would have enjoyed it more in a few years regardless.
It’s not bad. It’s not super good. It’s alright. I think if you’re in the right headspace, however, you should give it a go.
