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from our DIK review:
Naomi Westfield is going to marry Nicholas Rose in three months even though their relationship is dead in the water. After a miserable game night with her friends, Naomi realizes Nicholas’s plan: he’ll force her to break up with him, thereby not only winning everyone’s sympathy but also giving him grounds to ask the broke, minimum-wage Naomi to pay back the exorbitant amounts his mother Deborah has insisted they spend on the wedding. Well, two can play that game. Naomi has shrouded herself in a gray fog to avoid conflict – now she’ll embrace conflict and drive Nicholas so crazy he will break up with her first. The only problem? Maybe Nicholas isn’t trying to drive her away. Maybe Nicholas has been living in a fog, too, and once Naomi prods him out of it, could it be that the people they are underneath are a much better match than the people they were pretending to be?
Look. I can guess how you feel after you read that. A book with this premise could be a nauseating parade of immaturity, and yes, both Naomi and Nicholas start off superficial and lacking in self-awareness (Naomi’s kissy-kissy Instagram façade as her relationship drowns is particularly cringeworthy). But what makes this work is that the author knows they’re awful, and makes Naomi and Nicholas learn that they’ve been awful as well. The ‘make him break it off’ game is the catalyst for this.
For instance, based on Nicholas’s actions, Naomi assumes that he cares more about keeping the peace with his mother Deborah than siding with his future wife. Naomi therefore decides to alienate Nicholas by refusing to kowtow to Mommie Dearest. Except Nicholas wants to break out of his role as Dutiful Doormat, if only he didn’t have to go it alone. Naomi’s new spark gives him fire, too.