My Best Friend’s Ex by Alexis Winter

Category: New Adult Romance
Publication date: 01/19/2020
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Cliffhanger: I dunno

Hard pass on finishing this one, folks.

via GIPHY

Plot overview: Doormat heroine gets cheated on by her douchebag boyfriend who everyone knew was a douchebag but her. She moves on IMMEDIATELY to his best friend, who was secretly pining for her. I understand from the blurb that she gets pregnant. I’m sure endless drama ensued.

First of all, the title of this book is misleading. Levi, the hero, isn’t really friends anymore with Danielle’s (the heroine) boyfriend. He actually pretty much hates the guy. They used to be friends, but now he’s someone Levi barely recognizes anymore. I got the idea that he mostly stayed friends with him because he wanted to covertly pine for Danielle from a nice, up-close-and-personal distance, which I found to be borderline stalker-y. I let it go, though, because Levi seemed like an otherwise upstanding guy. 

Now, Danielle, on the other hand…

1. She’s stayed with Nick since college even though he’s a selfish jackass who isn’t even good in bed
2. Finds Nick cheating on her, and immediately runs to Levi and makes out with him. It’s Levi who has to stop things before they go too far
3. Gets choked by Nick, and apparently finds it to be a huge turn on, because, immediately after, she jumps Levi in an elevator--you know, as one does after being attacked by someone you’d been living with since college

I had to quit reading at that point because I hate (HATE HATE HATE) heroines who stay with douchebags they don’t even like for years on end for no good reason. Danielle wasn’t afraid for her life, so she didn’t stay with Nick out of fear. She wasn’t deeply in love with him. I couldn’t see a single reason why Danielle would stay with him, and that pissed me off. Was she just too lazy to break up with him? Was she too afraid that she couldn’t afford to pay for her own place without his income? Did she think she didn’t deserve someone who treated her better? None of those explanations make me like Danielle in the least. And I find it REALLY hard to keep reading when I actively dislike the heroine. 

Then there’s Levi, who seems to have a pretty obvious crush on Danielle. Somehow, our intrepid heroine missed all the clues he was throwing her way. That makes me hate her even more. Not only is she oblivious, but the first time she gets an inkling that Levi likes her, she jumps him and uses him as her rebound. That is SO not a nice way to treat someone who has feelings for her. 

So, because I was starting to hate the heroine with the heat of a nova, I bowed out of this one. If something really cool happened after that, I missed it.

via GIPHY

Does this book contribute to or help crush the romance stigma?

It’s not stigma-y. Just annoying.