Review: The Show Must Go On

The Show Must Go On by Kate Karyus Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Because lucky me, even though I am 100 percent talking out of my ass, it turns out my ass is a secret genius.

Wow. The Show Must Go On was surprisingly great. And by “great” I mean that this is very likely the best romance I’ve ever experienced (including books, movies, tv, etc.). It was also filled to the brim with funny lines like the one above, so for the first time in my life I found myself constantly laughing-out-loud while reading a book. But… then the ending happened… and it left me feeling insanely disappointed, which is what knocked a whole star off of my rating.

Will actually walks over to [the bookshelf], like he's unable to resist the siren call of literature. Obviously, despite losing the glasses, his nerd instincts are still strong.

First and foremost, since it doesn’t look like there are any reviews by people who have ever read Quinn before, I just want to state for the record that this is not my first rodeo. Not only have I read two of her paranormal young adult books (and own a third), but one of them, Another Little Piece, was my favourite book of 2014. I enjoyed that book for being super fucked up, because that’s just the type of person I am. So when news came that Quinn was coming out with an adult romantic comedy it was an immediate and hard “no from me, dawg”. Also, it’s about 30-year-olds and that’s a ten year age gap that I was sure would be too much for me to ever be able to relate to or care about. But I signed up for the newsletter anyway… and before I knew it I had signed up to read and review the arc. There was no going back. And now here we are!

I'm about to defend the two romance novels (both battered keepers), but then I remember that I explain myself to no one.

So. Quinn wrote a rom-com. Who woulda thunk it. The main character, Jenna, is part dumb, part asshole, very irresponsible, so very humorous, and oh so human. In fact, probably all if not most of the characters are super human (they got their flaws and whatnot), which was great. (view spoiler)[I like how Danny was never really antagonized, he was just human. Has good stuff about him and bad stuff too. It was just that him and Jenna weren't a match. (hide spoiler)] The book is narrated by Jenna, and because it showcases her stellar personality it was a laughing fest. For me, at least.

"Before I know it, he'll be packing my bags, probably more efficiently than I would, using physics or some shit like that." Oh hahaha Jenna is such a dumb bitch.

The order that things (past events, relationships) were revealed worked so well to create the best slow-build ever and to make me actually root for the main ship to get together, something which often doesn’t happen with me because I hate forced-feeling romances between Main Girl and Main Guy.

"I'd say one more thing. Then he'd have one more thing. Sometimes I'd be half hanging out the [car] door for over an hour as we tried to wrap it up. And failed." :') I love being reminded of my own happy memories. This is the best, would recommend.

Yet, as far as sexual content goes, it was very minimal in this book! This was both a relief and a disappointment at the same time for me. I mentally prepared myself to be exposed to written pornography and there ended up being only a tasteful amount of “details”. I’ve actually read young adult books with more, ahem, in-depth descriptions than what was written here. I actually didn’t know you were even allowed to write non-porn adult romance books… I thought extremely detailed depictions of sex were just a staple of the genre. My guess is that this book was more tame because it’s a romantic comedy, not a pure romance. Or something.

The teens stare at me, probably wondering if I'm losing it since I've gone quiet while reliving the best shower of my life.

But then the ending happened and kind of ruined things. I really can’t say much about it without spoiling things, so behind the tag I go: (view spoiler)[Even though I was rooting for Will and Jenna, I agreed that it was best for them to go their separate ways if Will wasn’t willing to follow Jenna to Texas, which, by the way, is totally and completely reasonable because they had only been “dating” for like literally two days at that point. It was so great for Jenna to finally not be a scaredy-cat loser and actually do something ambitious like moving to Texas to become a theatre director! I was so proud, and happy for the story to go in such a nice direction. Yay girl-power! Jenna won’t let no man hold her pack from doing great things! Except then that’s exactly what happens. She throws all of that away just so she can go back to banging a dead guy’s brother. That’s going to be an extremely hard “no from me, dawg”. Ruined the book. Or, at least killed an entire star.

[MC throws herself down a flight of stairs while pregnant and subsequently miscarries the baby] Well, that's one way to have an abortion...

Speaking of dead babies brothers, and because we’re still here in this spoiler tag: Danny’s death. Ya girl was shook-ith, okay? I didn’t think Quinn would actually go there (but in hindsight it was necessary in order to get rid of the “Danny will never approve of this relationship” thing), but since she did I think that she could have/should have gone harder on the whole she-bang. I was so shocked and my eyes were starting to sting and I could feel my tear ducts revving up, raring to get going, and then it gets ruined by Will and Jenna's fight. It was too much "Danny's dead" all of a sudden and then move on. I feel like the story moved past that too fast and I never got the proper chance to grieve and let it sink in and so it was just there and I was still in shock as I continued reading. Also, wait, but like wtf I need more information on how Danny died. Like what the heck actually even happened? He touched a tiddy for the first time in 12 years and his dick heart exploded or what? Or (on a more serious note) was the shed actually so cold that it killed him???? What the heck? This is another thing leaving me unsatisfied (hide spoiler)].

"I live my own life, and also, fuck him." You wish…

Yeah so that sucked. But you know what didn’t suck? The rest of the book. As in, I would still recommend this book! Also the reason I was so disappointed is kind of… feminist? I guess? (I’m trying to be so vague.) I’m pretty sure a lot of people would probably like the ending just fine, I was just personally let down by it, so I don’t think that should be something that deters anyone from reading this book.

It's a good move because it shows off his biceps. My eyes linger there until I remind them we didn't buy tickets to this particular gun show.

There are so many funny lines in this book, and although I tried to shove as many as I could into this review (as I’m sure you’ve noticed, you’re welcome), there are still some that didn’t fit, but I still love them, so behold the quote dump: *non-spoiler! Just behind a tag for space-saving* (view spoiler)[

“Will--the enemy!--squats in front of me, his jeans stretching tight against what appear to be incredibly powerful thighs, a thing I am only noting because he is the enemy and one must carefully survey the enemy looking for weaknesses.”

"'I noticed my newest cast member nailed his part. Of course, I expected no less from someone who dropped out of college with a four-point-O GPA.'"

"Basically, I gave Will a homework assignment, and like a good nerd, he sat down and set his brain to work."

(hide spoiler)]

[I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.]

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