Spoilers for The Sun & The Star and Trials Of Apollo
I did enjoy the book. But my gods, the way their first kiss happened was like in Velma.
I'm sorry for what your eyes are about to see, but it's for comparison sake.
Now, let me tell you how Nico's and Will's first kiss happened:
Right after Nico got the news Jason had died, he was so distraught he couldn't even cry. He felt out of it, like he was in a dream-like daze.
And Will wanted to comfort him, and didn't know what to do.
So, he spontaneously kissed Nico. And when he pulled away to apologize, Nico kissed him.
Character is stressed
Love interest panics
Love interest spontaneously kisses character
Love interest and character pull away in shock
Character kisses back
My gods, it's the same. Difference is Will apologized while Daphne didn't, but that still didn't make it okay.
Now, Solangelo felt more like actual teens in their first relationship, while the characters of Velma seemed like Hollywood's version of teens. So them making mistakes, acting spontaneously, felt more realistic. But it still doesn't feel right because now Nico will associate his first kiss with the death of his first real friend, and that isn't touched on as it should've been!
Despite its flaws, I did enjoy the book, but there were issues. Like with the Cocoa Puffs. I love them, they're cute, I love how there's slowly been more people saying "Will's not the step-dad. He's the dad who stepped up". But like...though it's true that they are Nico's own demigod kids in a way, born similar as Annabeth, it felt so wrong because he's a 15 year old kid.
It could've been done in a way where other kids of similar age with an "unwanted kid" of their own could feel seen (without the "how", obviously). But it just felt so dam weird and wrong. Primordial goddess or not, Nyx felt like a ped0 in this and if that were to be kept, it could've been done in an age-appropriate way that helped kids feel seen, especially other young boys who dealt with a creepy woman because gods know they barely get recognition other than jokes or "Dam, you were soooo lucky!"
Guess that's another difference with TSATS and Velma. These moments do seem salvageable with a bit of rework, where as in the whole show of Velma is a pile of schist.
I already posted a short one-shot changing the asking-out scene to where Nico understandably panicked and had flashbacks to Cupid. And as of now, I'm also currently writing one where their first kiss happens at a different moment. before Jason's death, but after their boat date was ruined.
