Title: The Idea of You

Author: Robinne Lee

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin 2017

Genre: Romance (not really)

Pages: 372

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Library Love

Where I Got It: Library

Solène Marchand, the thirty-nine-year-old owner of an art gallery in Los Angeles, is reluctant to take her daughter, Isabelle, to meet her favorite boy band. But since her divorce, she’s more eager than ever to be close to Isabelle. The last thing Solène expects is to make a connection with one of the members of the world-famous August Moon. But Hayes Campbell is clever, winning, confident, and posh, and the attraction is immediate. That he is all of twenty years old further complicates things.

What begins as a series of clandestine trysts quickly evolves into a passionate and genuine relationship. It is a journey that spans continents as Solène and Hayes navigate each other’s worlds: from stadium tours to international art fairs to secluded hideaways in Paris and Miami. For Solène, it is a reclaiming of self, as well as a rediscovery of happiness and love. When Solène and Hayes’ romance becomes a viral sensation, and both she and her daughter become the target of rabid fans and an insatiable media, Solène must face how her romantic life has impacted the lives of those she cares about most.

Labeled as romance. Let me tell you that this is not romance. There is no HEA here. There is not mutually respectful relationship between adults. There is a depiction of an extremely flawed woman in a “relationship” with a manipulative and controlling younger man. The age gap was not the problem for me. I don’t really care. I do care that these two characters were terrible. Everything started out fairly nice, but then we see how Solene is lying to and neglecting her daughter to go off and have sex filled weekends with her boybander. That was bad. Even worse was her interactions with his one bandmate. Creepy Creepy Creepy. Then we get to the second half of the book where we see these two characters become even more toxic. Hayes become an absolute nightmare. Solene should have jumped ship so fast, but no, the sex was too good. Honestly the sex scenes were terribly written; I got so confused about what exactly was happening half the time. This is a terrible book featuring terrible characters masquerading as a “romance.” Stay far away.

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