Book Review: Chasing Us
Good god BookTok, you really did me dirty this time. For starters, this is the sequel to ‘Chasing Love’, so we know who the characters are. We know what the deal is, which is basically two people who have the maturity of a toddler making grandiose life decisions and being all round idiots. This book felt very high school. These characters are supposed to be incredibly smart cookies, so why are they being so dumb? You may also be asking why I read the sequel if I found the first book so darn frustrating? Well, in my defence, the first book ended on a sort of cliffhanger and, although I knew that Charlotte and Alex would have a happy ending (sorry not sorry for the spoilers) I wanted to see how the heck these two got there. So hold onto your hats ladies and gents, you’re in for a wild ride.
I’ll start with a few good things about this book. Considering all the complaining I do you’d think there wasn’t anything good, but there is. Firstly, as incredibly childish as Charlotte and Alex are, there is some serious character development, we get to learn more about their past together and understand the depth of their characters. In short - why they’re the way they are. It did lead to some fabulous surprises, there are a few twists in here that I wasn’t expecting. Kat Masen, really did a good job in terms of plot and character development. For a story I had written off as predictable, Masen proved me wrong. I do also like the dual POV that this book has - I like that I see into the minds of the other characters. In this book we get to see the perspective of other characters such as Nikki and Eric. Eric’s was pretty pointless, but then I dislike his character quite a lot, I find the characterisation of the “gay BFF” a little too cringe and plays too hard on stereotypes. Nikki’s, however, was refreshing. She is the voice of reason and she actually cares about the emotional relationships around her. Not just the physical ones. She is the only grown-up in the group.
Okay, now for the ‘not-so-good’ stuff. Apologies to Masen, but there are certain things in this novel which leave much to be desired. Let’s start with the characterisation of the British. I’m British, so I wish I could find it in me to see the humour, but no one in their right mind talks like a lot of the British characters in this novel. Not unless they wanted to exaggerate the stereotypes in order to make fun of you. Because we will. We somewhat get a weird kick out of it.
A few other things do spring to mind - as I have mentioned there is a feeling that the main characters have fallen right out of a cheesy high school flick. I wouldn’t say 90210 or even Gossip Girl, but it’s got a teenage sort of vibe to it, they’re supposed to be adults - it was a little offputting and even exhausting at times. I will also mention that this is supposed to be a dark romance… I swear there was nothing dark about this book. Perhaps I should’ve started with this novel series before diving head first into Haunting Adeline… hmmm. Either way the whole ‘Dark Love Series’ hasn’t got me convinced. Is it toxic? Yes. HARD yes, but not dark. Far from it really.