Suki Fleet brings us a freaking rollercoaster of emotions with her book This is Not a Love Story

Ok, I don’t even know how to start. This is a freaking rollercoaster of emotions. I’ve been sitting in front of my computer with a blank page for almost 10 minutes trying to figure out the perfect way to pour all my feelings about this book without rambling but I guess that’ll pretty difficult.

(I promise I'll try to make this spoiler free and If I make spoiler I'll hide them)

This book pulls very specific strings of my heart. I have a soft spot for kids/teenagers especially those who are homeless. It wasn’t an easy read at all; it was overwhelmingly depressing for me. I had a lump in my throat from the beginning until the end. It makes me so sad and so angry seeing that kids have to endure these conditions.

Romeo (aka “Remee”) and Julian are boys who hadn’t had an easy life, they are both young and homeless. Their condition makes my heart ache. The story is told by Romeo’s POV, and Suki does a great job engrossing you in Remee’s head and heart.

There isn’t a moment without angst or anxiety, every page will have you on the edge of your seat. At least that was the case for me.

I was constantly terrified of what was going to happen next. Trust me when I say these boys didn’t have a moment of peace. I couldn’t put it down until I was near to the end because OMG, ***SPOILER*** I was in the last chapter and they were far from having their HEA or HFN. Really, I was going CRAZY.***SPOILER***

They were living in hell and I really wanted them to be happy. I was in pure agony and I had to put it down until I knew I could continue without falling apart because man *breathes deeply*, this ain’t easy. Right now you have no idea how thankful I am for that epilog.

It’s not easy to read about the reality of what it’s like to live on the streets. The difficulties that both Remee and Julian had to go through to survived were strenuous. My heart bleeds for those boys.

I don’t want to completely explain what this book holds and stands because I went through this completely blind and I think that improved my experience with it. So, I’ll go directly to my rating.

Ok, even though I really like this book, I can’t find myself giving it 5 stars for the following reasons:

**Bear in mind this is a personal preference.**

The writing. I found it a bit excessive. I realized that Suki tends to give too many details and it kinda pulls me out of the story a bit because it distracted me too much. And here’s the funny thing: she did this almost the whole book and I say “almost” because when you really needed those extra details she just won’t give it to you. Those in-depth description will disappear as if by magic. Specifically on the steamy moments.

Speaking of details, Julian is one of those things that Suki purposely forgot to deeply develop. I needed to know more about him, I would’ve wanted to know more about his past. We only got glimpses of what happened to him. JUST GLIMPSES. And I can only guess the reasons he’s on the streets. Those glimpses weren’t enough. After I finished I realized that Jules is still a mystery to me.

I’d have loved to have Jules POV. It might’ve added even more angst to the story because we can tell that he was undoubtedly in pain. Those who have read may say to me: “pff, Daniela, no please, there’s lots of suffering as it is right now, don’t ask for more.” And yeah, you’re right. The story is outstanding just the way it is, but asking for more makes no harm :). (Well, yeah it may destroy our hearts a bit more, but whatever, at this point it doesn’t matter anymore)


***SPOILER*** Another thing that’ll like to know more about is Remee’s dad. To some, that may be insignificant but I want to know who the heck is he? All this freaking time did he know he had a son? What took him so long to go to find him? How did he know Remee was in London? *pulling my hair* I don’t know, there are many gaps and some plot holes that I’d liked to have them fill in.***SPOILER***

Overall, it’s a good book. There’s a lot of unfairness, tension and unpredictable moments that’ll leave on the edge. More than once I thought “What the hell did I get myself into?” but I don’t regret reading this book, not even for a second. I’ll give it a solid 4 starts albeit is sad and difficult to read is beautiful and touching.

Don’t be fooled by the title. This is not a TYPICAL love story, but it definitely is a love story.

I recommend this to anyone who has a heart that can handle the story. Let the journey of angst and tears begin y’all.