Rick Osborne reviewed Simple Pleasures by Kenna White
Review of 'Simple Pleasures' on 'Storygraph'
4 stars
This story was a mixed bag for me.
I can very much relate to Dale's affect: she's gone through a traumatic event, she's in shock, and she's spent her life defining her identity as someone who doesn't want to need help. My own tragedy wasn't a tornado, but I had a similar "lose everything" event, and went through the exact arc that Dale did. I turned down genuine offers of help because I thought other people needed that help more than I did. I kept my life on Hard Mode because I didn't want to be a burden to those around me. I pushed all the feelings down inside because I didn't want to bring down the energy of my friends.
So, yeah, I definitely connect with Dale's story.
But I also felt like the romance with Taren was just ... not as well-baked. It felt more like a montage …
This story was a mixed bag for me.
I can very much relate to Dale's affect: she's gone through a traumatic event, she's in shock, and she's spent her life defining her identity as someone who doesn't want to need help. My own tragedy wasn't a tornado, but I had a similar "lose everything" event, and went through the exact arc that Dale did. I turned down genuine offers of help because I thought other people needed that help more than I did. I kept my life on Hard Mode because I didn't want to be a burden to those around me. I pushed all the feelings down inside because I didn't want to bring down the energy of my friends.
So, yeah, I definitely connect with Dale's story.
But I also felt like the romance with Taren was just ... not as well-baked. It felt more like a montage of a romance, so that I felt like I was missing the connective bits. It wasn't awful, I just wanted more than was there.
Sex: <spoiler>two PG-13-rated scenes</spoiler>
Tags: #AfraidToReplaceLostLove #BestFriendsSibling #HalfUnavailable #PTSD #RehabRecovery #RivalsToLovers #SinglePOV #SlowBurn #ThirdPersonPOV #Trauma