Queen B’s Decree: While the cute and adorable cover (I ♥️ u Samson) would lead you to believe this is a light-hearted romcom, it reads more like Women’s Fiction.
Sydney and Austin are paired up for a song composition class and they clash immediately. Austin is popular, has survived through college with minimal effort, and is used to women falling at his feet. Enter Sydney: who hates group projects because of people just like Austin (I feel you, sister!). After putting aside their differences and working together, they somehow end up with Sydney’s lyrics and Austin’s music and a song that gets them invited to LA.
While I enjoyed Sydney growing into herself, and her relationship with Austin growing into a deeper friendship, I felt a severe lack of romance between the two. In fact, for most of the story, the two characters are dating other people—with vivid sex scenes included. It felt jarring; was I supposed to be rooting for a happily ever after between them?
I did appreciate that mental health and addiction struggles are represented and gave the story more depth.
As mentioned in the blurb, this is the first installment in a trilogy so the ending is open-ended, leaving so many questions unanswered as we await the sequel.
Book: What We Can’t Have: Hollywood Hot Shots by Selina Violet
Series: What We Can’t Have Trilogy #1
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Hotness: mild-medium salsa
Plot Devices/Tropes: enemies-to-friends-to-lovers