Title: This is not a f*cking romance
Author: Evie Snow
Publisher: Exile Publishing
Genre: Romance, Drama
Pages: 358
My Rating: ❤️❤️❤️💕 🖤

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This is not a f*cking romance

Candy has been through a lot, in school, Trent Green bullied her and later she was in a toxic relationship with her ex-husband. Now she is working hard in her bar Hard Candy to pay off all the debts her ex-husband left her with. One night, a guy walks into her bar and asks if he can hold his birthday party there. That guy is Trent’s little brother and now she is standing face to face again with him. 
Trent’s life has never been easy. His father always pushed him too far and after his parents passed away in an accident, he had to take care of his four siblings at the age of 18. He has many regrets and one of them is that he knows he was an asshole in high school and made Candy’s life a hell. But he wants to apologize. Trent starts showing up at her bar every night to make it up to her. Now Candy’s willing to concede that Trent has his uses, and Trent’s getting a taste for walking on the weird side. But opposites don’t attract without friction and for Candy, vulnerability is dangerous.

Review

I like to be honest whenever I write a review, so I am going to be honest this time as well. At the start of this book, I wasn’t sure if I would like this book. I know I will enjoy a book when the beginning is fun and when I am hooked from the start. I wasn’t hooked from the start with this book, to be honest. But I also I never gave up on this book, because slowly I was getting invested in this book.

This is definitely not your typical romance book, because it also contains a lot of drama and for everyone who wants to read this book, I should give you a warning that there will be a suicide attempt. I did not see that coming and I was shocked and crying. This book was definitely intense. It is not a light and fluffy kind of romance novel. There is also Candy’s past where she was bullied and abused. 

I was bullied in high school too until I switched schools but I can’t imagine being with someone who used to bully me. Opposite attracts genre is fun and maybe even sexy, but I just can’t imagine. I don’t even want to be friends with those people. People like Trent can change and they can say sorry, but it is a no for me. It is  amazing how forgiving Candy is and it also sort of surprised me. 

One thing I found weird was when their relationship went from ‘You ruined my high school life and experience’ to ‘Let’s have sex together’. It developed way too fast in my opinion. I definitely could not relate. I also was wondering if Trent really has changed. Yes, he said sorry and all to Candy, but I felt like he was now being harsh on his brother. They were never communicating, they were always saying what they did wrong. It bothered me a lot. Maybe Matty was spoiled, but Trent could have been a lot nicer to him.

But there were a couple of things I liked as well. Some of the side characters were fun. Kevin is a famous writer and he writes in Hard Candy every night. Then there were different themes every night, including drag poetry and they were all so nice to each other. They are a community and they are helping each other. Both of the main characters show growth and maturity. I liked how much effort Trent was putting into making amends. The story can be realistic and relatable to some people as well. Nobody’s life is perfect and not every kind of love story is a cute story from the beginning. 

Overall, it is definitely a romance book that also includes a lot of drama. Which makes it different from other fluffy and light reads. But it is also very realistic. Things like these (abuse, bullying, etc.) happen in real life. I am giving it 3,5/5 stars. It is because I prefer light reading, especially now around the holidays. I also couldn’t relate to the main characters. Yes, I was bullied too, but still, I could not relate to Candy at all. And while this is the second book in the Texan Misfits series, I had absolutely no trouble with reading it as a standalone. I did not have the feeling I was missing important information,