Curiosity got the best of me, y’all.

I’ve read a couple Colleen Hoover books and been so-so on them overall. That paired with all the drama of her past and the It Ends With Us legal saga made me a bit hesitant to pick up anything else of hers. When the original jacket copy for Woman Down came out, it sounded very close to real life, and piqued my interest. Later, the jacket copy changed to create more division between reality and fiction, and the book includes a note from the author begging readers to not try to find connections between the two.

Woman Down [Buy Bookshop Amazon] starts with a beloved author, Petra Rose, dealing with her own downfall. Her book was adapted into a movie that people didn’t love and she ended up in a public spat with the director. Now, she’s been uninspired to write and is past deadline. Petra heads off to a cabin to write in solitude…. if only she can find some kind of inspiration.

After some convincing, Petra gets on a Facebook live with her best friend and talks about the struggles she’s dealing with. She specifically mentions how it’s hard to write what you haven’t experienced, so imagine her shock when a cop knocks on her door and her main male character is a cop. He says he’ll come back to get her statement about the incident on her street, and when he does, she turns it into an opportunity to pick his brain… and maybe act out a few of the scenes. What could go wrong?

I have some mixed feelings about Woman Down. Was it entertaining? Yes. Did I fly through it in a short amount of time? Was I cringing through chunks of it? Also yes.

This guy, Saint, is such a walking red flag from the moment he knocks on Petra’s door. Maybe that’s because I’m not a fan of cheating as a trope or plot device in general, but also the way the affair starts out just rubs me the wrong way. The more it goes on, the more I don’t like either of them in general. It’s just so dang cringey.

Part of my problem with it is knowing it’s going to end up shelved in general romance in stores that don’t have a specific romantic suspense section. I’d prefer these be shelved with thrillers, as the tension and action fit more within that genre than the toxicity of these characters fits in romance.

Romance is supposed to have a happily ever after, and this does not. I recounted the plot to several of my fellow booksellers who didn’t plan to read the book, and there were cacophonies of “hell no!” and “absolutely not” repeatedly throughout.

And thus, my complicated feelings.

It’s a wild, entertaining ride you’ll want to talk to someone about, but does feel a little like basing a novel on fanfic of yourself. If you liked Verity [Buy Bookshop Amazon], then you’ll probably enjoy this too.