E J's Reviews > Under the Table

This is my second time reading a Stephanie Evanovich book and honestly there seems to be a theme of failing to structure the story well.
1) opens on a scene of the protagonist anxious about potentially being stalked. Tension does not come to anything, instead we are given a rundown of her breakup and move to New York and new business, something that seems like it would have been much more interesting to start the story with. The expositional storytelling is boring and happens all at once rather than being revealed throughout the story.
2) emotional tone shifts in a heartbeat. Especially with the relationship. Tension in arguments deflated without culminating in anything satisfying, people forgive eachother In a heartbeat or are very angry them say oh well actuallt id forgiven you as soon as you walked in the door (so why did you yell and try to send her away?). Sex appears out of nowhere. Nothing is constructed in a way that the payoff is satisfying it’s always just out of nowhere.
3) the 30 year old sexy man who wears leather pants and loves ... Aerosmith??? The two adults who don’t have cell phones? The man who pioneered a major surveillance software knowing nothing about popular tech or culture? It’s unbelievable despite backstory ( he was raised by his grandparents with bad dialup) and it honestly makes Tristan seem... childlike. It made me feel creepy that he was supposed to be sexy when he was a strange combination fo naive, old fashioned, and extremely successfully sexual all of a sudden. Totally unbelievable characterisation (I was supposed to believe he was good at sex? With no experience?) that seemed to want me to think an old man, child, and near virgin all rolled into one was attractive.
3) the abusive ex was a hamfisted charicature
4) the sister was a pain and it had my least favourite trope where there’s finally a confrontation with somebody who’s been a dick of a character and it goes Bitch character: “well actually I was doing all this for your own good and you’re way too controlling” main character: “oh I’m sorry” ~problem solved~
5) clothing etc was way too specifically described and it’s either totally off base for how humans dress or this boom has become outdated really fast (not actually sure when it was written).
I can see why some people find these characters and stories charming but it lowkey blows me away to read these really popular romances and find that they’re just so poorly constructed, Lean so heavily on tropes, and are just generally so FRUSTRATING!