Falling for You

Strong 3.5 stars I liked this book a lot. This was a much stronger book than [b:Crushing on You 49125713 Crushing on You (Burlfriends, #1) Jen Trinh https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1576777209l/49125713.SY75.jpg 74578761]. I complained in my review of that book, that very little character development happened until the last 20% and I can confidently say that wasn't the case here. Yes, both characters grew a lot during the last 20% (that may just be [a:Jen Trinh 19798667 Jen Trinh https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1590958747p2/19798667.jpg]'s style) but the seeds had been sown during the earlier part of the book. For example, Lina called Asher out on his man-childishness in the first few chapters and he began to make changes almost immediately. Although romance books are usually centred on the heroine, in some ways, this was more Asher's book than Lina's. By the end of the book, he had grown by leaps and bounds and was definitely less child and more man (also shout out to positive representations of therapy). Admittedly, I found the portions about Lina's dissertation difficult to read because my own chemical engineering Masters' thesis is due in September and instead of working, I have been reading romance (but we're not here to talk about me). I really identified with her character and appreciated her growth.However, there were a few parts of this book that gave me pause. During one of their early hookups, Lina mentions being surprised by a kiss Asher gives her. Luckily, she wound up being into it, but I couldn't help thinking that it was skirting the line of enthusiastic consent. I know that sometimes both partners may be flirtatiously sending each other non-verbal cues, but in my opinion, that wasn't the case here (she was surprised). Also by that point, they were not in an established relationship and so surprising someone with a kiss was iffy at best. In addition, as someone who hates public gestures, I was uncomfortable with the scene where Asher sang a song to her after she explicitly told her not to contact him. I feel like this happens quite a lot in romance where one character (usually the heroine) sets a hard boundary and the other character finds a loophole. Something about that always rubs me the wrong way. I feel like if Asher had sung the song without knowing she was in the crowd I may have liked that scene better. Or maybe, Lina should not have been made to set that hard boundary in the first place. I know I am nitpicking here and most romance readers wouldn't have issues with these things, but for me, they detract from my enjoyment of a book. In general, I liked this book and I look forward to more books from Trinh.