But Malcolm really likes Summer.
Summer is in love with love.
And Fox is Summer’s ex-boyfriend.
Thirty, flirty, and asexual Joy is secretly in love with her best friend Malcolm, but she’s never been brave enough to say so. When he unexpectedly announces that he's met the love of his life—and no, it's not Joy—she's heartbroken. Malcolm invites her on a weekend getaway, and Joy decides it’s her last chance to show him exactly what he’s overlooking. But maybe Joy is the one missing something…or someone…and his name is Fox.
Fox sees a kindred spirit in Joy—and decides to help her. He proposes they pretend to fall for each other on the weekend trip to make Malcolm jealous. But spending time with Fox shows Joy what it’s like to not be the third wheel, and there’s no mistaking the way he makes her feel. Could Fox be the romantic partner she’s always deserved?
You all know of my quest to read every asexual book, and Claire Kann's books have been on my radar ever since I read Let's Talk About Love. You can tell how the book is going to be like and how it's going to end just by reading the synopsis (the tropes are strong with this one), but it's kept from being formulaic by Joy and Malcolm being ace and having a really deep friendship that veers into queerplatonic relationship territory. However, their (kinda codependent) best friendship doesn't keep Joy from feeling the pain of unrequited love and seeing Malcolm date other women. I felt that Malcolm took her for granted and asked too much of her, on top of being too bossy. Who makes a weekend trip agenda planned down to the minute for three other people and doesn't give it to them ahead of time, keeping every aspect of it a secret until each event occurs? Who sulks when someone wants to go grocery shopping because tHaT's NoT iN tHe AgEnDa? An uptight jerk unworthy of #carefreeblackgirl Joy, that's who. He just expected her to pull out the trampoline every time he said jump. Anyway that's where the title comes from (agenda).
I'm not sure if this is also in other "make him jealous by fake dating the other guy" books, but Summer was not a jealous bitch like I suspected and was actually a rather rounded character who did genuinely want to befriend Joy, even if she went about it a weird way. Fox is a typical Brooding Hunk™ who's the Grumpy to Joy's Sunshine; their dynamic was overall rather formulaic but still fun to read because Claire Kann incorporates discussions of consent and asexuality. I like the way asexuality was handled in this book a bit better, as it felt a little less didactic. It also helps that all the characters are all about 30 years old, lol. The characters did feel a bit stock character-y, but I still enjoyed the book. This is definitely a "kicking my heels and giggling" kind of romance book, and would make such a fun beach read.
Spoilery comments because that's who I am as a person: we learn that Malcolm is really intense as a partner and has been in love with Joy the whole time, yet he never pulled out the stops to try to woo her or even just tell her how he feels? Joy doing everything for him and being devoted while in (she thinks) unrequited love with him really made me feel for her, as I went through something somewhat similar in the past. I understood Joy's reluctance to let go because what if that's the best she ever gets, what with being asexual? What's the point of having Joy and Malcolm be in mutual perceived-unrequited love and then confess it if they end up with their respective partners? I hated Malcolm's ex-fiance for being such a bitch to Joy and blaming her for trying to "steal her man"; it wasn't Joy's fault that Malcolm refused to own up to his feelings and continually chose Joy over her (although it's not like Joy chose to get sick the same night as Whatsherface's big work party). I didn't love how both Summer and Malcolm wanted to get married for the sake of getting married; I feel it caused them to overlook each other's faults and settle, kinda. It's not a healthy mentality to have. Apropos of nothing, but I feel like Claire Kann has a k!nk for men who cook, based on these two books of hers that I've read. Fair. Oh also, one of the pairs sort of make out and caress partially unclothed, but there isn't any actual sex.
I recommend this book for people who want to read trope-y romance novels that aren't so cishet, and/or who want a romance novel with asexual characters. I don't think you'll like this book if you don't like romance.
Cover notes: This book cover is cute and sums up the vibe, although I don't love how cartoony it is. The heart dotting the i seems to be made by one of those skywriting planes, which makes no sense because they never ride a plane, only helicopters.
Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: February 13
From: Book Outlet (before I found out they're antisemitic)
Status: keeping
See my aesthetics moodboard for The Romantic Agenda!
Trigger warnings: mentions of past partners expecting/demanding sex from asexual character, discussion of aphobia (homophobia against asexual people), acrophobic character made to fly in helicopter, character outed without her consent, online harassment, past off-page death (I want to say car accident?), grief, alcohol mentions (various), drunkenness, female character objectified mentions, unrequited love, emotional labor taken for granted
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