ARC Season Semi-Sweet

 

I have to say that this book started out a little slow to me and it took me some time to get into it, but I'm wondering if that was intentional on the author's part, has it would parallel how Olivia's life was going. 

On paper, Olivia seems to have a great life. She is engaged to her long-term boyfriend. Even though she is working at the same grocery store she has been since she was sixteen, she is currently working on a master's degree in marketing. Her fiancee's family owns the chain of grocery stores she works at. He is now working in the corporate office and is making money on top of his family money. 

However, not everything is how it looks on the surface. Her coworkers are mean to her, because she is engaged to the family that owns the stores. (It doesn't help that her fiancee purposely asks for her to have the best shifts in the best spots.) Her fiancee is emotionally abusive and belittles her dreams and ambitions. She wants to be a writer, but he acts like that's beneath her and she should just come work in the corporate office. Even her marketing degree was one that he agreed to let her have because it would help the family. Her family stopped talking to her when she moved in with the fiancee, so she hasn't spoke to them in 5 years. Her fiancee also likes to remind her that she has nothing without him. 

One day, she starts receiving mystery cupcakes from the bakery department. They all have her name on them, but they are all paid for. Once there is a poem with one, she begins replying. She and her mystery cupcake person slowly become friends, and between this person and the new baker, she begins to start seeing herself in a new light. She stops seeing herself as the immature screw-up that her fiancee makes her out to be, and sees her potential. This gives her the push she needs to make some changes and go after her dreams. 

She stands up for herself (finally!) when her fiancee in a drunken rage destroys her things because he saw she got a contract for an internship at a publishing house. He threatens to burn the contract and their apartment when she convinces him to take a walk. She quickly packs a bag and heads to the new baker's place. 

I didn't feel I got full closure with Olivia and her fiancee. She left the ring, he comes to campus to find her, and then we hear the family sends him to rehab. But we don't really get a sense of closure. Considering how he treated her, it's an honest depiction of what can happen in real life ... but I wish we had maybe had an epilogue from the fiancee's point of view. 

Overall, I liked this book. If you end up reading it, just know you need to get through a few chapters before it gets to the don't want to put it down parts.