open heart was definitely a book that caught the fandomโs attention but honestlyโฆ. it was a hard time to be a black fan. the amount of casual anti-blackness was INSANE!!! from people attacking harper for her relationship with ethan and attacking aurora for simply just existing. tobiasโ existence brought about a lot of hatred for seemingly no reason to when he hadnโt done anything remotely bad. also people wanting kyra to die for bryceโs development and raf to die forโฆ the plot? which was already ass anyway and rafโs death wouldnโt have done anything of substance. the worst part about it all is that pb deliberately encouraged this through their writing, through their choice of plot points and the way they represented their characters. the fact that mc and aurora are forced to have a massive blowout over something minuscule? the decision to add harper to the diagnostics team even though sheโs a surgeon? and have her suddenly want to heat up her old relationship with ethan??? when she literally didnโt gaf about that man until then. even the choice with making elijah turn on mc and take ethanโs side? it really made me look at pb sideways and the fans who were fanning the flames of the fire that pb set alight.
