Review: F*ck Love, by Tarryn Fisher

F*ck Love by Tarryn Fisher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is one of the most difficult books to rate that I’ve run across. There were things about this story that I absolutely loved. I can’t deny that I was inexplicably drawn to this story. Yet, there were also things that just didn’t work for me. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with this one.

I love Tarryn Fisher’s writing. ‘The Opportunist’ is a favorite of mine and this book held much of the same appeal in so many ways. I’m not a person that shies away from love triangles or cheating either. In fact, I love the push and pull of an angsty love story. Forbidden is my thing.

As far as angst goes, this book had tons! If you like your stories to bring some emotional pain, look no further. I felt like I vacillated between varying levels of heartache and joy the entire time I was listening to this story. Ms. Fisher definitely toyed with my emotions and made me feel things I wasn’t sure I was ready for.

This is a story about a young woman, Helena, that falls in love with her best friend’s boyfriend, Kit. The relationship begins as a casual friendship, becoming progressively flirtatious over time. Eventually, lines blur and the dynamics of their relationships are forever altered.

Helena was the type of heroine that you could relate to because she was such a flawed human. She had so many insecurities and always seemed to get the short end of the stick. Even though I didn’t agree with many of her choices, even thinking that some were kind of creepy and pathetic –I mean who moves cross country to live in you best friend’s boyfriend’s home town because you can’t have him? — I wanted her to “win” for once. She was kind of like the underdog that you can’t help but root for.

Kit and Helena’s best friend, Della, were much harder for me to warm up to. Della was just a selfish, wicked cow! There was nothing about her that I found to be appealing or endearing. I hated her!

Kit, on the other hand, stirred up a range of emotions in me. At times I loved him. Other times, I thought that he was cowardly and undeserving of Helena. He never seemed to care for her as much as she cared for him.

My biggest complaint is that Kit royally screwed Helena over…more than once…and he got off easy. If you’ve been a friend of mine for long, you know that I demand some damn groveling when the hero screws up. That never happened here, which left a very bad taste in my mouth.

With all that being said, I still could not put this book down. I loved this story, in spite of all my objections. Ms. Fisher has a way of sucking me in to her emotional stories, even when my brain is telling me that I should be offended. The heart wants what it wants. Despite all reason, I loved this story!

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