Oof—I was not a fan of this one. It had so much potential but just fell flat for me. I’m glad I passed on the review request when I first got it, but somehow forgot about it and grabbed it from Kindle Unlimited when I needed a book to fill a gap between review copies.
Snowbody Like You has a great premise, aka all the Hallmark movies ever, the two protagonists, Rigby and Jude meet at the airport, get snowed in and have to share a room, true love (or humping like rabbits) happens and they live happily ever after.
What did it for me was the fact the book read like three different books crammed together. If it would’ve ended after the first night in the hotel room it would’ve been a cute (if over-the-top ridiculous) novella about first love, but it continued. The second “book” was Jude and Rigby taking their new relationship back to school and sort of getting to know each other better by going on one date and having a lot more sex. And the third and final one was a cosplay extravaganza—which actually was well written and fascinating, but just felt so disconnected from the first two thirds of the book I had whiplash.
Seriously though, a good editor could’ve trimmed this up and shifted things around to make it a better overall story. Somehow there was too much going on while simultaneously absolutely nothing happened, it was weird. I think Zoelle got a formula in her head and stuck to it for every single chapter and it was rough.
While I felt the book was definitely over-saturated with sex, Zoelle did a decent job writing the scenes and I liked that even though Rigby had previously had not great experiences receiving, he was willing to try with Jude and because they were soulmates (or whatever) it was wonderful and he very much enjoyed it. The cosplay/roleplay was interesting, and a little bit hot, but definitely took each of those chapters in a seemingly random direction.
We’ve never talked about it, but I’m actually bi. I shouldn’t have lied about it by letting you assume I’m gay, especially if that’s a deal breaker for you, but— (115)
I also appreciated that Rigby was a bi protagonists and Jude and Rigby had a conversation about it that clearly showed Rigby had bad experiences with previous similar conversations and, honestly, it felt the most real of many of their non-academic conversations.
Recommendation: It’s a pass. A few people mentioned there’s a novella version of it and I’d say maybe seek that out. The book felt like it had multiple personalities, the storyline didn’t really make a lot of sense and as decent and varied as the sex scenes were, they were a little too much for me. I won’t be reading the rest of the series, but might revisit Zoelle’s works a few years from now as you can definitely see potential.
Opening Line: “Watching ninety Hallmark movies with my family during my winter break from grad school had done a number on me.”
Closing Line: “Considering my entire world revolved around Jude, truer words had never been spoken.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)
Additional Quotes from Snowbody Like You
“‘The red thread of fate,’ I clarified. ‘It’s an East Asian idea that an invisible red thread around our little fingers connects us to our true love and draws them to us. The red thread binds destined lovers together, regardless of place and time. Sometimes it gets tangled or caught on something, but it never breaks. It’s the tie which binds two soul mates together forever.'” (54)
“I laughed into our next kiss as he cuddled me, my heart bursting with happiness. Bless the Hallmark meet-cute gods who had brought the perfect Mr. Right into my life. Even if I hadn’t spilled my chai latte on him to stake my claim, I knew without a doubt that I had found my soul mate in Rigby.”