Book Review #98: The Couple by Helly Acton

I had been looking forward to reading this book for quite a while. It was a recommendation from Carrie Hope Fletcher, and I thought that the premise sounded really interesting. Plus I loved Acton's first book, The Shelf, so much that I definitely wanted to read this one.

In a world where being in a couple is out of the ordinary (because who would rely on someone else for their own happiness?), Millie is happily single and focused on her career. In fact, she can't imagine ever being in a couple. So when she is tasked with working on the world's first antidote to falling in love, she sees the antidote as a chance for her to get the promotion of her dreams. That is, until she starts working with Ben, and finds herself strangely drawn to him. Will Millie sacrifice everything she believes in, and has worked so hard for, for love?

I felt a bit disappointed with this book all in all.

I loved the characters of Millie and Ben went they are first introduced. I didn't really 'get' the story until they met and the reader got to see them interact with each other. Only then did I fully understand the stakes.

As I said, the premise sounded really interesting, and it is interesting to take the theme of love and relationships and flip it on its head.

I found that, because I don't live in the same world as these characters, it was hard not to see them as judgemental and close-minded, which in turn made them feel a bit unlikeable to me, particularly Millie's best friend June.

The concept felt like it should have lead to a deep, complex story, but the story itself is a typical opposites-attract romance with a slightly different setting. Despite the unusual setting, the story is actually very predictable.

This isn't the kind of story that you can't put down, or that you're itching to pick up. There was nothing that I was excited to get to the end for. In fact, I found myself falling out of love with Millie and Ben as the story continued.

The main reason that I ended up not being in love with the characters by the end of the novel was that none of the characters felt 3-dimensional. Millie didn't have anything to her character outside of her love of routine, Ben didn't have anything to him apart from being Millie's opposite, and Millie's two best friends existed as anthropomorphized relationship statuses - single and in a couple. Neither the characters, nor the story, had enough depth.

Overall, I appreciate the concept of the story, and I like that the author tried to do something different, but for me, it wasn't different enough, and quickly became the a tried-and-tested romance story with a different background.

2.5 stars