Review: Hot Mess

Hot Mess by Emily Belden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

🔎Book Review🔎⠀
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🔎Main Characters: 2/5🔎⠀
FYI, you will probably hate Allie for the majority of this novel. If you aren’t okay with that- leave now! No but for real. Personally, I think that unlikeable main characters are necessary- we need to see them grow! But even I’ll admit that Allie and Benji really challenged me and left me wanting to throttle them.⠀
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🔎Secondary Characters: 3/5🔎⠀
The only fully fleshed out main character is Angela, but she’s the shit. However, the rest of the secondary characters are lacking. Allie’s friends from high school have no real personality or purpose other than to serve as a sounding board for Allie as she goes off the deep end. Rita and Mark are flat for the majority of the novel and non-existent for the rest. ⠀
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🔎Writing Style: 2/5🔎⠀
While the writing style itself is fun, flowy, and upbeat, there were a couple things that seriously brought this score down. First, the text speak present in the novel is ridiculous. I can almost guarantee that no one texts that way anymore- CU later, RU home, etc. Come on- I just don’t think that’s accurate. And we have to talk about whoever wrote the synopsis blurb. I’m not exaggerating- it spoiled the entire first half. So obviously, those parts dragged.⠀
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🔎Plot: 3/5🔎⠀
Concept was great- loved learning about the cooking industry. As I mentioned, the fact that the blurb spoiled the entire first half meant I had a tough time with that part of the plot, but once it finally moved beyond that, it really took off. ⠀
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🔎Ending: 4/5🔎⠀
Hot Mess really struggled at the beginning. The plus side? It could only go up from there. And it did! We had a strong ending. My favorite part were the strong female friendships- what a great closing note. ⠀
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🔎Total: 14/25🔎 3 Stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️⠀

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