HAPPY ENDINGS by Thien-Kim Lam

Multiple happy endings with an HEA too

Happy Endings tells the story of a Trixie, a young Vietnamese woman who runs into the man that ghosted her years ago (Andre) as she is selling sex toys in his mom-and-pop restaurant. After being disowned by her family for wanting to switch from being a pharmacist to being a therapist, Andre left her, leading Trixie to take on the job of a sex toy salesperson to support herself. However, she falls in love with her new job and it empowers her as well, leading her to discover her passion of teaching about sex and helping women find pleasure safely. In order to win the competition that would grant her the money to open her own sex toy shop, as well as to save her ex's failing restaurant, Trixie and Andre team together to host multiple pop-up sex toy shops in his restaurant. They re-discover their passion...again... and again... and again... And the two try to see if there's a place for one another in their new stages of life.

Let me start off by saying I absolutely A D O R E the concept of the book 😫😫. We all know I'm a simp for a girlboss and Trixie and the Boss Babes really are the epitome of girlbossing 🤩. When I saw that she wanted to open a sex toy shop called "Happy Endings" I immediately added this to my TBR list and hopped on the library waitlist. When I opened the book, not only was there more very interesting, very educational content on sex toys, there were also so MANY d e c a d e n t descriptions of the food Andre and Mama Hazel's was making. Every time I opened this book, I found myself craving some soul food 😫. A foodie romance like no other, if this book was just about the sex toys and the Southern food I would be very satisfied indeed.

One thing I would say about this book is that the writing is a bit choppy, with more of a "tell" than "show" vibe. For a debut novel, I think Thien-Kim did really well, but I think the writing definitely could've been stronger. Characters were constantly going around stating every single thing, being like "oh X,Y,Z you did made me really whatever emotions" which I suppose makes them REALLY good communicators, but I would have preferred more actions and such demonstrating this rather than just being explicitly stated. On this, I found the chemistry a bit forced because we would just see the characters stating that "oh I forgive him for this" or "passion was never the problem" or something but there never really was a catalyst or a good demonstration of this, which made it really hard for me to believe. It was also a bit typical, with the traditional 'pursuing passion vs familial duty' that is pretty much the quintessential 'Asian' trope that appears in also quite a few YA/NA books.

That being said-- IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR SMUT THIS IS THE RIGHT BOOK FOR YOU. For some reason, I really didn't expect this much s*x in a book about a sex toy seller. I know very strange of me, but basically every other scene was quite a hot demonstration of the toys that Trixie sold. So if you're looking for a Porn with a ~little Plot this is quite a perfect read for you. On the other hand, because there was so much sex, I feel like the emotional development of the relationship was a bit weaker. It just suddenly progressed from sex all the time to ~emotions.

HOWEVER, however, however, my BIGGEST problem with this book was how much I absolutely d e t e s t e d Andre. As an MMC, he was an absolute douchebag, which I suppose makes him the most realistic male I've ever read, but COME ON Trixie girl you can do SOOOOOOOO MUCH better 😭😭😭. Andre is probably the very definition of toxic masculinity. He constantly lies or at least omits important information to all the important females in his life. And while I get he was going through some tough times of trying to find his roots in New Orleans and then going home to take care of his mother who was diagnosed with cancer, THAT DOES NOT EXCUSE the way he treats his sister and Trixie!!! Even if he wants to be a dick to the girl he's dating, his sister owns half of the restaurant, and excluding her from really important business decisions is just wrong?? He has a lot of irrational anger and bs reasons for his actions, and I absolutely hate him for making Trixie choose between a relationship with him or fulfilling her dream. Anyways, Andre is the main reason why this book's ratings really dropped for me, so read my rant in the spoiler section below if you want to see how deep my hatred for him runs 🙃🙃

Overall, I had much high expectations for this book, and besides the shining points of the food and the sex toys, it was a little underwhelming. Being Thien-Kim's debut novel, I was willing to forgive a lot of the smaller issues with the choppy writing and telling not showing. Despite that, Andre made this book sooooo hard for me to read. I'm definitely looking forward for her next books though (am I foreseeing a Keisha x Xavier book in the future??) I want to see all the Boss Babes find their own happy ending 😉😉 and hopefully they will have MUCH better love interests than the dick Trixie had to put up with 😫.

Ratings:

⭐⭐⭐1/4 overall

🔥🔥🔥🔥 (sex toys galore)

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🛑🛑WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!🛑🛑

Now onto my rant about how much I H A T E Andre. The book begins by explaining that Andre ghosted Trixie, his girlfriend of TWO YEARS and broke up with her via a POST-IT NOTE! Like hello, anyone with any semblance of basic decency would at the very least have a face-to-face discussion to break up with your LONG-TERM partner??

Andre goes on to justify his actions by saying pulling the "I don't want you to feel the same pain I did being abandoned by half of my family" card. Which while I get that he did go through a lot of pain and being in New Orleans was part of his journey of self-discovery, I really see no correlation between him leaving Trixie and her getting accepted back into her family??? Trixie's parents never disapproved of her relationship with him, their whole issue was with her career choice, which would have remained the same regardless of whether or not he decided to stay with her?? Also at this point, Trixie's family had already cut her off, so I don't see in what world having your boyfriend leave you would ever convince your family to welcome you back?????

Besides Trixie's way too easy forgiveness of Andre, I really, really detest how he treats his sister in this book. Keisha is such a girlboss, and I love her so much, but she's constantly getting steamrolled by Andre. Under the guise of 'protective brother' he constantly imposes his will on her as well as excludes her from really important conversations they should be having. Maybe keeping his relationship and history with Trixie private is up to his prerogative, but by refusing to consider her suggestions to improve their restaurant, excluding her in important business discussions so she can understand exactly what state the restaurant she owns 50% of stake in is at, and COMPLETELY NEGLECTING to tell her that the building their restaurant was in was bought????? just makes him the absolute worst brother and business partner -ever.

AND FINALLY, Andre tries making Trixie choose between renting a co-op space in District Market (to fulfill her absolute dream of opening a sex toy shop) and their relationship! I will never, NEVER be able to endorse a man that threatens to leave the relationship because you want to pursue your dream? I get that he doesn't like the District Market because it's pulling away customers from his own failing restaurant, but Trixie owning a small sex toy shop has absolutely no bearing on his own business? Like I can kind of understand if he would be peeved if Trixie's like "I'm going to steal all your fried chicken recipes and open a hipster soul food restaurant in District Market" but sex toys and food are not direct competitors at all????? And later on, he goes on to apologize for overreacting and blowing up at Trixie when they go to tour the area, so I wanted to get better vibes from him. But then he completely regresses and he gets so angry and wasted and breaks up with Trixie when she tells him she is going to sign the lease? I honestly don't get what this guy's deal is. Trixie following her passions is never going to interfere with his business, and IN FACT, she has constantly been SO SUPPORTIVE of him. Her pop-up shops in his restaurant have been the saving grace for Mama Hazel's so why is his knickers getting in such a twist?????

ANNYYYWAYSSSSS came for the sex toys, stayed for the food, got turned off by the men, but MY GOD the females 😫😫😫😫😫 For a debut novel, Happy Endings does hit quite a few spots. While I was incredible annoyed at the MMC, I'm excited for any future books Thien-Kim Lam may be working on because hopefully they can have more girlboss-supportive MMCs 🥵🥵