About the Book
-
Author:
- Samantha Markum
- Genres:
- Boy-Girl Romance
- Contemporary
- YA Romance
- Voices:
- Cis Boy
- Cis Girl
- Straight
- White (Non-Specified)
Cover Story: Print A Retraction!
BFF Charm: Yay
Talky Talk: Feature Writer
Bonus Factors: Side Character Glow-Up, Journalism, Hidden Identities
Relationship Status: Share Your Byline?
Cover Story: Print A Retraction!
While it’s cute, I take umbrage because it’s described in the book that their desk areas are side-by-side, super close, and part of their issues is they’re practically on top of each other. Wyn is a bigger girl and part of her story is about that, so I do appreciate they did not thin-wash her here.
The Deal:
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: two journalism majors moonlighting as unpaid interns at the college paper are competing for a recently-vacated column spot. Of course they annoy each other and find ways to sabotage each other’s work. But when they’re alone in their dorms and the loneliness calls, they both get on the anonymous campus-only dating app and…find each other.
BFF Charm: Yay
As a plus-sized girlie, I found Wyn’s acceptance of her body and the lingering insecurities very relatable. That’s not to say she’s obsessed with her weight constantly, and the book reflects that, but growing up concerned about what your body says about your inner you can mess with your confidence, and that has far-reaching effects on so many little parts of you that you don’t even consciously realize. A lot of Wyn’s troubles can lead back to this internalized lack of self-worth/confidence, and she was certainly on a journey. Sometimes that journey involved her doing very dumb things to best Three, to the point I was covering my eyes while still trying to read.
Swoonworthy Scale: 7
The only way an enemies-to-lovers trope works in contemporary, for me, is if they’re rivals at a particular thing, and the animosity doesn’t go TOO far (they didn’t murder your father and grow up in an opposing magical faction, hmmm?). Wyn was definitely crossing some of my personal lines in her rage (hacking Three’s computer to steal story ideas seemed wrong), but Markum managed to soften their rivalry into a genuine partnership as time went on. So much of romance lives and dies in its execution, and there were plenty of moments I was kicking my feet for this couple to become a couple.
Talky Talk: Feature Writer
I stumbled into Samantha Markum’s beachy, small-town contemporary, You Wouldn’t Dare, in 2023 and found her voice at once refreshing and familiar. She brings shades of those earnest, coming-of-age contemporary writers of yore, like Sarah Dessen, who write slice-of-life books about characters you want to love wrestling with what it means to become an adult. This book had a different feel to that one, but the writing still pulled me in and I found myself unable to put the book down once I began. While the beats may be familiar, Markum infused her characters with weighty issues that made their connection all the more meaningful—yet gave it a deft enough hand that it didn’t get too dark in tone or topic.
Bonus Factor: Side Character Glow-Up
I didn’t realize until I read the author’s note that Three featured in Markum’s debut novel, This May End Badly, set about a fake-dating scheme at a boarding school (hello, added to my TBR). I didn’t need to read that book before this one, but I kind of low-key love it when authors can build up their own interconnected “MCU”.
Bonus Factor: College Roommates
Though this is primarily a romance-focused book, I really enjoyed Wyn’s time with her roommates and their burgeoning friendships.
Bonus Factor: Journalism
Certainly a hot topic at present, as print media has long been seen as a dying art and the FREE press is on its last gasping breath. (Sigh.) Working for the paper, Three and Wyn do have a vendetta against the Buzzfeed/Tiktok-esque video news that is eminently more popular, despite their lack of solid facts and research, so it was fun to see how they try to combat that. I also liked Wyn’s journey on finding her niche in journalism, but I won’t spoil anything.
Bonus Factor: Hidden Identities
AKA pulling a You’ve Got Mail or Shop Around the Corner. It can be deployed badly, but I will continue to seek it out because there’s just something about the sharing of secrets online while you’re exchanging sexy barbs in person that leads to that big reveal that I will NEVER GET ENOUGH OF.
Relationship Status: Share Your Byline?
I admire your integrity and writing style, Book. If you ever want to partner up on a story in the future, you know who to call.
Literary Matchmaking
This book reminded me of another rivals-to-lovers, What’s Not to Love, by real-life rivals-to-lovers, Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka.
I remember Julie Buxbaum’s Tell Me Three Things fondly, as it also prominently featured two characters writing to each other with no idea who is who.
If you want more earnestness and higher stakes, then the newspaper rivals in Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment #1) by Rebecca Ross can fit the bill.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received my free review copy from McElderry Books. I received neither money nor peanut butter cups in exchange for this review. Love, Off the Record is available now.
