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Rash and Rationality (Happily Ever Austen…
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Rash and Rationality (Happily Ever Austen Book 2) (edition 2020)

by Ellen Mint (Author)

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522,952,726 (3.5)None
Love is a lot closer and more complicated than Marty ever dreamed. Marty Dashwood is a true romantic. Hearts, chocolates, kisses on the hand--the whole nine yards. His killjoy brother Eldon doesn't believe in love at first sight, but one day Marty will have the perfect meet-cute, she'll fall helplessly in love with him and they'll live happily ever after. Brandy's worked with Marty for almost two years. He's the best friend she could ever have hoped for after the accident that took her husband. So she should be happy that Marty finally found what he'd always wanted, right? So why does it feel like every time she sees Marty with the 'Social-Media Angel' he rescued from a mugger, a piece breaks off her heart? How can she explain any of this to him before she loses her best friend forever?… (more)
Member:mandygirl.10
Title:Rash and Rationality (Happily Ever Austen Book 2)
Authors:Ellen Mint (Author)
Info:Totally Bound Publishing (2020), 192 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:None

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Rash and Rationality by Ellen Mint

Recently added bymandygirl.10, Poopy, Wendyhays

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This review was written for LibraryThing Member Giveaways.
I received a copy of this book from the Members Giveaway program in exchange for an unbiased review. Brief plot spoilers may follow.

Summary:
Rash and Rationality is a gender-swapped spin on the classic Sense and Sensibility. Marty is dead set on having his happily ever after, with the perfect girl, after a perfectly quirky introduction and over the top wooing. His best friend and coworker Brandy doesn't know if happily ever after exists for her after the tragic loss she endured, and while watching Marty try to find his forever lady, finds herself inexplicably jealous and unsure of what to do about it. Marty finds himself a potentially forever lady, but blatantly ignores the tiny slivers of doubt he feels about her in his pursuit of perfection. The reader gets to go along for the ride as these clueless best friends try to find their happy endings.

I thought this was a really cute read. I thought the gender swap made the book even more interesting, as it is usually the heroine with the flowery ideas about love and the idealistic views about how they'd like to romance or be romanced. Marty being the one with overly romantic views that could use a little tweaking was refreshing. I like that Brandy had a realistic and sympathetic reason for not being as gung-ho about love as Marty, but that she hadn't lost her personality and spunk while enduring what she suffered. I loved the side characters; Marty's family and Brandy's best friend added more personality to the book and helped flesh out the main characters beyond their friendship. I didn't entirely mind the pacing of the book and the growth that took place for both characters; they had to learn two completely different things and did so on their own timeline. The story didn't feel rushed and that helped me to get to know everyone a lot better. The sex scenes were surprisingly graphic to me as the rest of the book was rather tame. I was expecting tame scenes there as well, but I was pleasantly surprised. Even though I'm not very big on book series because of the cliffhanger endings, I learned enough about Eldon during Rash and Rationality that I wouldn't mind a follow-up that lets us into his world. I loved the author's cheeky take on influencers and how that was integrated into the book. I was involved on the outskirts of that industry and sadly, it is exactly as it was described in Rash, if not worse. People really will do anything for the 'Gram. Another thing I really enjoyed was the quirkiness of Brandy and Marty's friendship. The cute game they played with each other with the books was at the top of the list, and I loved how that was weaved into the climax at the end. To be honest, there wasn't much about this book that I didn't like.

As for things I wasn't super fond of, they were mostly related to character choices and the like. Marty nearly blows things for himself toward the end and it felt like a necessary evil because I think it was the catalyst that showed him he was in the wrong. My first draft of this review also had me complaining about Brandy's flip-flopping throughout some of the book, but honestly, even that was realistic when considering what she had experienced. I think I'm just impatient and wanted her to go for it. The main thing I complained about throughout the book was also one of the main points of the book--Marty's sense of romance. While I said I found it refreshing that he was the romantic one rather than it being the female, Marty's sense of romance was....over the top and rang a bit hollow for me. It drove me insane that it took him until the end of the book to realize it was more of the latter. As much as there was a point of doing things for the 'Gram, Marty was more in love with the idea of grand overtures than he was with actual love. It bothered me that we didn't really get to see him authentically outgrow that.

Overall though, I really enjoyed this book. It's probably not viable for a follow-up, but I'd enjoy seeing what Marty's actual approach to romance is without the grand overtures and with a receptive partner. Maybe in a follow-up novel about Eldon? lol I tried. Anyway, if you're in the market for a (mostly) clean romance with a dorky hero and a heroine with a backstory in a familiar format, give this book a go. Thank you to the author for allowing me to review a copy of Rash and Rationality! ( )
  mandygirl.10 | Mar 31, 2021 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Member Giveaways.
What do you do when you decide you're falling in love with your best friend? That is the question that "Rash & Rationality," a contemporary romance by Ellen Mint loosely based on the Jane Austen classic "Sense & Sensibility," attempts to answer. It's not a tight retelling, matching scene for scene (the main characters swap genders, for instance), but there are enough similarities that you will recognize who is who, I think. I really struggled with what rating to give this book - there were things I really liked about it, and things that didn't quite gel for me, so when it all shook out, I gave it an average of 3 stars. I probably would've have given it 3.5, if that were possible.

Here are the things I liked:

There are obviously different colors and cultures of people represented in this story, but you are not beaten over the head with stereotypes. There is no "sassy black woman" or "smart Asian" or "hot-tempered Latina" or whatever. You get the sense by some of the language, the food choices, and other things that maybe this person is black, that person is Latinx, etc., but that is a secondary characteristic to the fact that they are just people, first and foremost. It's more important that they are a friend and a good cook, or a real estate agent, or librarian, or whatever, than what color their skin is or where their families might have originated - just the way it should be in real life. And I really appreciated that about the characterization of the secondary characters.

I also liked that the Hero was not your typical alpha male; tall, dark & sexy, take no prisoners, sort of guy. He had vulnerabilities and was a little bit on the short side and was kind of goofy - just a regular guy. If you read romance novels for the fantasy element, you may not appreciate that aspect and want your H to be the typical Romance Novel God, but I found it unique and it underscores the idea that there is someone out there for everyone.

There was a decided emphasis on the unreliability of social media, and, I think, a bit of a commentary on our modern obsession with racking up "likes" and "views" over being true to yourself and living in the moment.

There was also some character growth for our H and h, which is always nice to see. The peripheral and supporting characters, however, were mostly one-dimensional and remained that way through-out, with the possible exception of the H's brother (who, for some reason, I imagined to be like Mycroft Holmes, the older brother of Sherlock...).

And, there was a really good sexy time scene! [spoiler alert] Just like sometimes happens in real life, though, the dream sex was better than the real deal, in my opinion. I can totally see my husband doing the jazz hands thing, lol. Sorry for the TMI.

Things I didn't like:

Although I can appreciate quirky people (I like Wes Anderson movies as much as anyone!), the Hero was almost TOO quirky - to the point of being borderline unlikeable because he comes across as disorganized, self-centered, lacking in direction and motivation...dare I say, a loser/slacker. And some of the things he said, I couldn't even understand, even though he was speaking English. Part of the reason I like to read is because I get invested in the characters. I feel like I know them, understand them, feel some kind of empathy for them. They expand my knowledge and understanding of the human condition. And I can understand wanting to make an atypical Hero - not the tall, dark, & handsome trope. But I feel like the author went out of her way to make the H SO quirky that sometimes, his words or behavior took me completely out of the story and just left me scratching my head in confusion. He went past quirky into downright weird word salad.

There was a former husband angle for the h that I felt was poorly handled. It's either an issue, or not an issue. Not a sometimes an issue and sometimes remembered, then conveniently forgotten, to be brought up again later, issue. But, when you take 352 pages of source material (Sense & Sensibility) and condense it to 192 pages, some topics are bound to get short shrift. I guess I like my characters to be somewhat consistent - just like I like my friends. I don't have the emotional energy for people who are all over the place - why would I spend emotional energy on book characters who are like that?

As for the h overall, I don't feel like she was as well-developed. I don't know if it was because she was a widow, or what, but I had a hard time identifying with her. She was supposedly so hung up on her ex that she wore her wedding ring on a chain around her neck but then when she decided not to anymore, [another spoiler alert!] it certainly wasn't the momentous decision that I would think such a thing would be? I don't know - I just had a hard time relating.

And lastly, I felt like the small-independent-bookshop setting seemed unrealistic in today's economy. Even the large chain bookstores are having a hard time staying afloat with so many e-books and online sellers.

As a side note, there were a few typos in my copy. I felt like the book needed a good editor to catch both the typo issues, and the word salad issues mentioned earlier. If you are a person who gets totally side-tracked by stuff like this, be aware.

To sum up:

I liked parts of this book, but there were some pretty big hurdles that took away from my enjoyment of it, as well.

If you are someone who gets offended at explicit sexy times, there are two of them, and [spoiler alert again!] one is a dream sequence - as previously noted, the better of the two, in my opinion. There is also a some swears/F-bombs, but little or no taking the Lord's name in vain, if those are things that matter to you.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I tried to like it. At times, I was really getting into it...but then something would happen (the H would do something too weird, the h would be too bland/maudlin, a typo would pop up) to take me out of the story again.

Interesting side note: I had some difficulty downloading my copy to review, and was originally directed to a short by the same author. I liked it much better than the actual book! So, I think I will give this author another chance, because there are definitely things I liked and appreciated - I just don't feel like this book connected with me the way that maybe the author is really capable of.

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own. Thank you to the author, the publisher, LibraryThing, and BookFunnel for making this review possible! ( )
  Poopy | Jul 30, 2020 |
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Love is a lot closer and more complicated than Marty ever dreamed. Marty Dashwood is a true romantic. Hearts, chocolates, kisses on the hand--the whole nine yards. His killjoy brother Eldon doesn't believe in love at first sight, but one day Marty will have the perfect meet-cute, she'll fall helplessly in love with him and they'll live happily ever after. Brandy's worked with Marty for almost two years. He's the best friend she could ever have hoped for after the accident that took her husband. So she should be happy that Marty finally found what he'd always wanted, right? So why does it feel like every time she sees Marty with the 'Social-Media Angel' he rescued from a mugger, a piece breaks off her heart? How can she explain any of this to him before she loses her best friend forever?

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