What I Should've Said - Max Monroe


I've read a good number of books by Max and Monroe, and this was the most unexpected. I got approved for an ARC months back but I've been putting off actually reading it after learning it's gonna be super emotional from other reviewers. The book's got a very rom-commy bubblegum pink cover and considering the authors usually write steamy romances, no one expected this heartbreaking story. There are zero trigger warnings and though I get that some would've been spoilers, it's better to be aware There's a lot of on page and off page content about terminal illness, death, grief, sexual abuse, parental abandonment, etc.


I saw the end coming from the first few chapters, so the anticipation was there. What I didn't like though, was the unsuccessful attempts to take away the attention from the difficult themes of the book by adding snippets of romance and humor. It felt like the book was attempting to be two things at once with inconsistency in the sentiment. The authors' writing style was encaptivating, however, so getting through the book wasn't a struggle for me. I did love the cast, including the MCs, and side characters. Gotta love the supporting (quite literally) characters.

The negatives in this book though are too prominent to be ignored. How does a 6-year-old with limited vocabulary string together such comprehensive sentences. The pacing of the story is very off and keeps changing as and when its convenient for narration, just skipping over moments that I wanted to see as a reader. And by this I mean at times there are entire weeks/months jumped just to get the story moving. This may be a spoiler, but the grief duration of the story was glossed over way too quickly, and I'm definitely not happy with how quickly the MCs move on.

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