Imme-van-Gorp

I mean, the vibes are certainly cutesy and feelgood, but I just couldn't really deal with how ridiculously "nice" the heroine was. She was unbelievable and borderline annoying with how forgiving and understanding and self-reproachful she was in situations where she should be anything but. The guy put her out of business, lied to her, manipulated her, and she literally responds to all of that with a happy smile and a kiss?? Be so freakin for real. Not to mention, why is everyone ignoring the fact that both of the leads were basically cheating on their partners the whole time?? That's not cute. Other than that, though, I did enjoy their dynamic and they often had good chemistry. The way Joe looked at Kathleen was pretty swoony, too.

This was such a powerful and beautiful period drama! It delivers all aspects of its genre in all the best ways.

We are truly immersed into the time and see the harsh conditions people live in, yet it's not all sadness and anger. The point of the story is that even those who seem different, whether it's by opinion or by station, can often find a middle ground, and by learning from each other and working together they can become even better or stronger.

I love that we got fleshed-out, well-developed characters from each side, whether it was the Hales, the Thorntons or the Higgins, as it made it possible for us to understand and feel all the different sides to the argument. We also truly got to see the meaningful relationships they all built with each other, despite the major gaps that might normally separate them all, which felt really important.

Not to mention, of course, this story was, first and foremost, utterly romantic. The two leads have fantastic chemistry and you can truly see the longing in their faces at all times. I was swooning left and right!

It was just such a stunning adaptation, I personally liked it more than the book!

It turns out Penelope was an angel surrounded by monsters, and I'm so happy she got away from her parents and her old life. I only wish we could have gotten to see a little more build-up to her relationship with Johnny/Max, so I could have understood a bit better where the depth of their love came from. It would have given the story a bit more oomph and emotional maturity for me, especially since Penelope's own character arc definitely did have that in spades. We really got to see her gain self-confidence and self-acceptance from up-close, which made it feel much more authentic and meaningful.