[REVIEW] M.A. Binfield’s “Not This Time”
RATE: ☆☆☆☆
This was an enjoyable book. I liked how both protagonists struggle with similar and yet different things as well as the way their characters develop throughout the story: while Maddie's struggles root in her personal life, Sofia's root in her career. I hated some secondary characters, such as Noah (who I'm pretty sure was written in a way that the reader is supposed to dislike him) and Rosa, Sofia's homophobic mother who becomes 'okay' with her daughter being in a relationship with a woman at the end of the story., I'm not sure what the author expected us to think about her; she was written in an antagonist kind of way, although Sofia says several times that her mother isn't a monster even though she may seem and sound like one sometimes, and Rosa being okay with Sofia and Maddie dating felt like a redemption of some sort and it truly didn't feel that way for me. Realizing that your daughter dating a woman is okay doesn't equal a redemption arc if she's been homophobic several times, only in this book. So, yeah, she's a bitch and I hate her.
I really enjoyed Ashley's character though. I personally didn't like Daya, but I get where she came from and thought her character well constructed: she does things that piss you off, but you can see she just wants to protect Maddie. Ashley, on the other hand, does all the right things, at least in the way I see it. I found Daya unreasonable at times, but Ashley felt like... the voice of reason, you know. Maybe because Daya herself was involved, as one of the bandmates Sofia supposedly used to get her way to the top, while Ashley was an outsider who was just worried about Maddie's happiness, as her sister, not someone who was personally a 'victim' of Sofia's actions. I also liked the development of Felix's character. I can't say I like him, but he wasn't a straight up homophobe, but he did recognise he didn't support Sofia like he should have and... well, he's an interesting one. Not saying he's a good person, but nicely written? Sure. It uses a lot of 'internet' slang, abbreviations etc. which I didn't mind, but I have to say that I cringed when Noah said "okay, boomer" to Maddie. Not only because Noah's entire existence is cringe, but because... does he know what boomer means? They're both the same age and it was kind of ridiculous. I'm still not sure if that was supposed to portray how ridiculous Noah's character was or if it was the author's fault, but I had to address it. I cringed hard.
I also would've enjoyed it more if there were a little bit less sex scenes, but that's a personal preference, and it isn't so much as to make it the famous porn without plot or anything of the sorts, so, not a fault of the book or the author. All in all, the book has many soft scenes, but it can also show the characters as sad and also sexy, and troubling, and ill and making wrong decisions, fucking up and admiting their mistakes. These aspects made the characters feel real and multifaceted. If you're looking for an easy to read romance that also deals with heavy topics, but in a light manner, and that also has good F/F romance, then this is your calling: you should read this book. And with that, I finish my last review in 2020. Happy new year and hopefully, 2021 will be better.