Under Rose Tainted Skies is a love story and unfortunately, the book is completely dominated by the love story. Although, it was a cute and innocent romance, I felt a little underwhelmed and frustrated by the way it was handled. Let me explain.

The book centers on Norah. She has OCD and is agoraphobic. It is very hard for her to leave her home, so she rarely does. She spends most of her time online, or with her mother. Well that is until, Luke moves next door and the two of them become close.

Luke is a sweetheart, and he and Norah were adorable together. However, I did not like that the book leaned towards the whole “love cures everything” angle. That was not okay with me. Because yes, Luke was overly perfect and made Norah realize somethings. But I wanted Norah to have a self-discovery on her own. I would like to mention that Luke does not end up being the reason she leaves the house at the end, but even the reason for her leaving felt tainted and there is no real resolution.

I’m aware that mental illnesses are not something that can be fixed quickly. It takes time, but Under Rose Tainted Skies seems to have forgotten that.

Another issue I had with the book, is the ending. This is a fellow mellow book. For the majority of the book, not major happens. It sort of just breezes by. Well it did until the ending. The ending came out of nowhere and felt very out of place. It took me aback, because I was not sure if it was a dream or real. It felt rushed and simply did not belong.

Final Analysis

Under Rose Tainted Skies focuses a lot on the romance and less on character development and plot.