(You can find this book here.)
I wasn’t really planning on reviewing this age-gap, popstar, Amazon Prime-adapted romance but it’s weirdly icky, so let’s discuss.
It’s fine that French-American gallery owner Soléne is 20 years older than her 20-year-old lover Hayes. It’s fine that he’s a member of the world’s biggest boy band. It’s fine that the spice is extra hot and pretty constant. It’s even fine that large swathes of this book are just lifestyle fantasy dumps, full of brand names and status symbols. It’s even fine that this is apparently an ascended Harry Styles fanfic. (I am too old and too Black to pick up any of those references, but if that’s what you’re into, here’s the apparent proof.) All of that is fine. Romances are fantasies, and sometimes the fantasy depends on being rich, privileged, and sexually insatiable. Done well, it’s a lot of fun.
But it’s not fine that on the first date, Hayes tells one of those terrible stories of losing his virginity to statutory rape that way too many men have in real life. It’s not fine that nobody acknowledges how messed up it is, except for moments of jealousy(!) because the perpetrator is still in his life. It’s not fine that every time Soléne sees Hayes’ body intimately, it’s immediately followed up with comment about his age, boyishness and lack of physical maturity. It’s not fine that there’s a scene where Hayes compares a highly sexualized feature of Soléne to her 12-year-old daughter’s, who happens to be his biggest fan. It’s not fine that Soléne essentially treats Hayes the same way that creepy older men are criticized for treating much younger women.
Ick.
It’s also not fine that this book was written by a Black author who initially conceptualized it with a Black female lead, but due to fears it wouldn’t sell ultimately wrote it with a majority white cast of characters. (I did wonder if the Exotic Black Best Friend in the book was at some point a main character elsewhere–she’s really interesting.) I guess I get why the change was made — sometimes a check is a check — but despite the author’s assertions that she knows white people well, these are vapid, flat, boring, oblivious white people who feel sanitized and aspirational despite their many vices. They have their moments, but mostly they seem to do nothing but buy things and think about themselves.
Ick again.
It is well-written and sexy, and the premise is undeniably interesting. I liked the movie as well, but parts of the book just didn’t sit well with me. Oh, and if you’re a stickler for traditional romance novels, you’ll HATE the ending.
A background check and some sense to The Idea of You.
(Fellow readers, this one was a surprise–I expected to love it but kept expecting Chris Hansen to pop up and smack the book out of my hand once I got into it. (Shout out to Crafty Kita for that reference!) In any case, if you’re interested in reading more diverse romance, check out my booklist on Complex Loves at the Equal Opportunity Bookshop. Just remember that we have an affiliate relationship there, so anything you buy from a link you find here results in a commission being paid. Hope you are all being loved in an…age-appropriate way? Now, go and read something good. Peace!)
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