Book Review: Just One of the Guys

Book: Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins

Edition: Paperback

Rating: 3 stars

Review:

This wasn't a bad story but it's not what I would consider to be a typical romance because there really wasn't much in the story. Dating and relationships were definitely talked about in this but romance wasn't shown.

Just One of the Guys is about lovelorn 31 years old journalist Chastity O'Neill who moved back to her hometown of Eaton Falls for a career opportunity as an editor for the Eaton Falls Gazette. But returning home brings with it the familiar problems of dealing with her crazy family and her unrequited love for her old friend Trevor Meade.

Chastity has had a crush on Trevor since she was 10, he is pretty much an honorary member of her family ever since his fell apart following the death of his younger sister. It wasn't until her freshman year in college did something happen between them but that was a one weekend hook up with both realizing that it should not have happened. Since then every guy she would meet or date would be compared to him.

Throughout the story Trevor doesn't seem interested in wanting to date her but she couldn't seem to move on. Chastity is very eager to get married and have children to the point that she signs up for online dating sites, goes to single's night grocery shopping, etc. to find her would be husband.

Dating doesn't seem to be easy for Chastity, she's 5' 11" and feels awkward and out of place because of her height and size that is when she's not around her equally sized family. She's self-conscious over her lack of not being stereotypical feminine and being considered one of the guys. She also wants to live up to her family's reputation because her father, brothers and Trevor work in some sort of heroic capacity such as firefighters, paramedics, etc. She think what's hindering her is her phobia or aversion to blood and thought taking an EMT class would help and not to mention it's also as a way to potentially find a date.

She does eventually meet a guy, Dr. Ryan Darling a slightly arrogant and condescending surgeon at the local hospital who also teaches women's self defense classes. She met him when she attended one of the classes for an article. Despite Ryan being interested in her, she still can't get over Trevor. However, that doesn't stop things from progressing really fast in her relationship with Ryan and it was not long before they were engaged. Her relationship with Dr. Darling felt like a combination of settling because she couldn't get the guy she wanted and forcing herself to move on.

This is a relatively fast read but I was disappointed with the story and despite being 376 pages it still felt rushed and not thought out especially the ending. When the story wasn't focusing on Chastity's love life the rest was on O'Neil family drama from the divorced parents and the mother's new found desire to start dating to Chastity's brother Mark's anger issues and marital problems. There was even a minor subplot that had someone targeting Chastity at the newspaper but after finding out who it was and why they did it only added more disappointment to the story.

I was also disappointed with so much homophobia casually being tossed around that it makes me wonder if that's the author's view point filtering through the story. I also didn't like how stereotypical Chastity's best friend Elaina who is Latina was sometimes written. I found this story to be riddled with a lot of instant and quick relationships from Chastity's mother meeting and then planning to marry a man she only known for a short amount of time to Chastity's brother Matt's insta-relationship with one of her co-workers.

Something I didn't quite get was why Chastity was still so in love with Trevor after all these years. Yes, he's a nice guy but perhaps if the story which is written in Chastity's point of view also showed his maybe it would show why he was this amazing guy she couldn't get over. I feel like the reader only sees him through Chastity's rose colored love goggles most of the time. You don't really get to see what makes Trevor tick or what truly motivated his actions or lack there of in regards to Chastity that is until the end. But why should the reader have to wait that long to find out what's going through a character's mind?

This isn't a bad story it's well written and there are some funny and touching moments but I do wish it had been better. There is a slow burn approach to Chastity and Trevor's relationship so much so that it was almost non-existent. It doesn't make any sense why they put themselves through so much inner turmoil and emotional drama to not be together. There are some nice instances where you can see how Trevor showed how much he cared about her but why did it take so long for them to be together. There were so many pages being wasted with them dating other people and dancing around the subject of their attraction to each other.

Overall, this a bittersweet tale that doesn't really fit in the romance genre. Chastity and Trevor are some what interesting characters but one of the issues I had was that there was a lot of attention on things that happened between them in the past. However, the story didn't focus enough attention on why they should be in a relationship in the present or give them enough time to be together.

This is a quick read but I don't know if it will necessarily satisfy romance fans.