"This book was so overhyped that I’m having a hard time with it. The magic system is interesting but the story is a bit of a mess and Renthorn was CARTOONISH in his villainy. Idk yall. "

"The only good part of this book is when Molly gets a text asking her to “meet at the OG�� and another character says “at the Original Gangster?�� And Molly says, like she’s got the Miami Vice theme playing behind her, “No. The Olive Garden.�� "

"2.5 rounded up for general harmlessness although it could just as easily have been rounded down because the package is so so unbelievably awful. the cover is apparently not ai even though it looks like that? and HWAT is with the title. 'experiment' implies a deliberate, contrived, romcom-plot intention, "i am going to friendzone x for narrative purposes of y" (also 'friendzone' is extremely negative and manosphere-y in a way that is offputting on its own). that's not the case! it's just two people who are deeply in childhood-first-love love pretending they're regular friends!

the people: they are so sensible and levelheaded that it makes a fairly high-stakes plot feel rote. this pulls a lot from kdrama—it's in the acknowledgements and everything—in its combination of romance/corporate succession plot/a backstory where someone was, probably, MURDERED!, but the fun of a good kdrama is the melodrama—either high theater or sweeping sincerity. it's very funny to see a kdrama plot met with a "hmm. ok. noted" from both of its characters. the few moments of high emotions are painstakingly realistic and grounded: yes, it's true, even a nice adult can have a panic attack.

i know we're just calling contemporary romance "romcom" now because the former has dated genre connotations but it's funny to put that designation on a largely unfunny book. i'm not saying it's full of clunkers, rather that it doesn't bother at all—it doesn't have the lighthearted, affected winkiness of say an emily henry that establishes a world where anyone might pratfall into anyone's arms at any moment (whether or not that is 'humor' per se is immaterial to it being a genre signifier, and i'm digressing). this is a sensible shoe. this is a story told by a coworker that you basically like but kind of wish she would wrap up so you can go home. as a member of the o.g. gossip girl generation i am a very generous reader for setting via pointed brand invocation but i kept having to take breaks to prevent medium-fancy-though-not-trendy-real-london-restaurant namedrop fatigue. it's not satirical and it's also not particularly aspirational. you can literally go to yauatcha.

i mentioned that 'contemporary romance' is looked on as dated but the tone here is much more similar to early-00s women's fiction, the era of 'chick lit'. if there's really no place for that in the present market, that i suppose accounts for the wildly inarticulate positioning here. i DO think punting this into the present romance market is a huge awful setup for the author, especially given the air of abject misery every time she has to get herself to the other side of a sex scene. i don't want that for zen cho! i loved black water sister and her reams of very good short fiction! why is the romance imprint of a sff publisher putting her in the 'spice, queen? 👀' saw trap! everyone involved here, her included, should have gently asked themselves "what are we doing here? like what do we want out of this?" and then, and this is the most important part, they should have come up with an answer."