Title: 10 Things That Never Happened
Author: Alexis Hall
Pages: 400 (according to NetGalley)
Rating: 1.5/5
Publish Date: October 17, 2023
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Sam Becker is a man who manages a bed and bath retailer in Sheffield, England. He likes his job but isn't passionate about it. He would like it more if the owner of the store wasn't a "giant dick".
Jonathan Forest, a.k.a. "Giant Dick", is the owner of said bed and bath retailer and is stationed in London. He is a workaholic who has a hard time showing any emotion that is caveman anger. He also does not like Sam Becker and orders him to come to the London branch so he can learn how to meet the unattainable quota standards.
Once at the London branch Sam and Forest get into an altercation and Sam trips and cracks his head onto a very heavy shower glass door. He is rushed to the hospital and decides that he is going to have amnesia so Forest will forget about firing him.
Faking amnesia was a great idea at the beginning, but once Sam had to live with Jonathan due to a severe concussion, the plan backfired tremendously.
Sam has to deal with the reality that Jonathan does have other emotions and can express them. Sam also tangles himself into Jonathan's very complicated family matters and gets too involved.
What I Liked:
The only thing I liked about this book was the boss/employee trope and that Sam's real name is Samwise - like the one from Lord of the Rings. Sam also names his very ugly cat, Gollum.
What I Disliked:
Everything. I disliked everything.
The writing was terrible and it rambled about things that didn't really matter to the story. There was A LOT of slang that is common in England, and since I'm from a small town in Iowa, I didn't understand the slang and it took me out of the story. I normally have no problems with slang terms being used in books, but this was overkill.
I also hated that she named every piece in the stores by their full name. If I had to read one more time that Sam fell on a Nexa by MERLYN 8mm Sliding Door Enclosure I was going to DNF the book. It felt like I was watching Finding Nemo for the millionth time due to school and having to hear Dory say the P. Scherman bit. IT. GOT. OLD. And once again, the type of product didn't matter to the story.
I also just didn't care for the amnesia trope, I've read better. It might have worked for me if I cared about the characters - which I didn't.
Final Thoughts:
This was my first book by Alexis Hall and I was really disappointed. My librarian friends LOVE his books and have been trying to get me to read them, but sadly this was the one I started with.
I don't know if I'll read his other published work.
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