You’d Be Mine by Erin Hahn | Boring “Not You But Me” Book

I got the ARC copy of You’d Be Mine by Erin Hahn via NetGalley. At around 10% of the novel, it was kind of sweet.

Seems like a romantic story that will evolve between two of the main characters. But then the typical trope of “It’s Me Not You” trope jumps, and the book becomes predictable.

Not every reader could enjoy this book. The story has been used so frequently in books and movies, the no matter how much spices you sprinkle on it, it can never acquire a fresh taste.

At this point, it is very difficult for me to find fresh stories. Kei speaks for me in review:

I think I’m getting to a point where I’m too old for these types of books. Or I’ve read too many of them and now they bleed into one huge pile of the same stuff I’ve been reading for a decade.

What could be the solution to this problem?

Should I start reading Classical stuff, but I hate each classic I read until now. Except for The Outsiders.

Jefferson Vs Clay

There is this Country Music Rockstar, Clay. His real name is Jefferson. No one knows it.

He has some typical backstory. But Again he does not want to share it. Enters our Annie.

Annie also has a typical sad backstory. Both join by a music band.

Slowly, with the help of Annie, Clay turns back into Jefferson.

On the other hand, against all the odds, Annie falls in love with Jefferson or Clay.  🙄 

But the core is that they fall in love, and they were saying, from the starting of the book that they are not going to fall in love.

So that was not a surprise that they fall in love.

Bad Boy? Angelic Girl?

Can you tell me a name of the book with such two main characters?

Where the boy has a bad reputation, while the girl is a saint.

Starting from A Walk to Remember, there is a huge pile by Nicholas Sparks, Sarah Dessen, Sophie Kinsella, and other Romance writers.

It is the most used plot of romance.

The problem with this book, not only this plot, but the problem is the romance between the characters solely stands on this.

The only reason Angelic girl get attracted to the boy because he disrespects her. He does not show any courtesy to the girl, and the girl gets all over him because he remembers the date of death of a popular country singer.

Beauty and the Beast

There is a very funny scene in the book. The girl goes to the room of the boy.

Clay starts saying, “Please, Annie, I am not the boy you want.”

Girl: “Oh so you don’t want me.”

Boy: “I want you from every cell of my body, but you don’t deserve me.”

Girl: “Is it because Lora is your girlfriend.”

Boy: “No, No, No. You are too good for me.”

This is how the scene plays. And when it was going on, I was remembering Edward-Bella.

I mean, authors should stop writing this type of dialogues now. It goes as same as holding the breath and not knowing it. That is also very common in YA Genre.

Boy telling the girl that she does not deserve him does not make the boy irresistibly sexy, or attractive. It just feels like he is being a moron.

Play with the Words

Even with the bad story, the writing could sail a ship. Sometimes.

But I did not even like the writing.

Look at it:

I don’t realize until she gasps for breath, I’d been holding mine along with her.

Or this:

The late morning sun slants in through wispy drapes, painting my surroundings in a soft buttery yellow.

First one is overused. And the second one is a type of prose that makes me feel that I am a 12-year-old school girl, writing fanfictions.

The Good or the Bad

If you can go with the boyfriend-girlfriend type of stories where beauty and the beast fall in love, tell each other their story. Or if you are a fan of country music stories.

You’d be Mine by Erin Hahn is totally for you. Go for it. The book has all the elements to make you blush or smile or flutter, or your heart full of rainbows.

But if you go with the heart of reading a good story, plotwise or writing wise, well the book is not for you.

You’d Be Mine by Erin Hahn