The Ballad of Darcy and Russell

By Morgan Matson

Review by Lucille Rose

A botched music festival. A broken-down bus. A dead phone. Darcy never knew the best night of her life would start quite like this. Darcy Milligan is your classic hopeless romantic: a book nerd with high standards and no experience of falling in love. It feels like all her life has been building up to one dramatic moment where she’ll lock eyes with her soulmate, the doves will fly, the orchestra will build, and she’ll run off hand in hand with her happily ever after. She did not, however, expect this to happen in a bus station. But despite the less than pristine circumstances, Darcy can’t help falling head over heels for Russell, the French speaking musical lover who spends the entire night wooing her with his soft eyes and gorgeous smile. But when some shocking details about Russell’s past are revealed, the truths threaten to break them apart. Can Darcy stand to live in a world without perfect happy endings? And more importantly, does she want to?

The Achillies heal of the romance genre is the love at first sight trope. It has led to the fall of countless novels that would have been amazing if not for this poisonous cliché. The Ballad of Darcy and Russell had the potential to be great but because of its suffocatingly short timeline, failed to be good.

I would like to preface this review by stating that I understand my opinions on certain tropes might be singular. Those who don’t mind or even enjoy such tropes as mentioned would love this book, its just not for the realists. No matter how romantic the love interest is, no matter how perfect the sunset or beautiful the scenery, no matter how much two characters share with each other, a night is not enough time to truly understand someone, let alone fall in love. Throughout the novel the author attempted to establish a casual, romantic intimacy between Darcy and Russell, the kind of intimacy only achieved after years of knowing someone. So, while the scenes between the love birds were romantic, they shrivelled under the sun of impossibility. Every fleeting look, electric touch and beautiful word was undermined by the blaring fact that people are too complex to understand in one night, Darcy and Russell being no exception. The idea that you can fall head over heels for someone upon one look is too unrealistic even for a fantasy lover like me to accept, and it indicates a shallowness in the characters and their relationship.

Darcy’s personality was witty, and if it had not been undermined by a crippling lack of self-esteem, could have been truly charming. Sadly, she fell into the unoriginal archetype of the female romance protagonist who doesn’t believe in herself until a good-looking guy tells her to. This lack of confidence also extended to her choice of friends who, judging by Darcy’s perception of them, seem like a toxic pairing who did nothing but criticise and critique her choices. That being said, Darcy does grow and evolve throughout the book, eventually finding her voice and an inner confidence. I just wish she didn’t have to rely on a guy to do so.

Speaking of clichés, this book fell for more than one. It begins with Darcy agreeing to go to an undisclosed third location with a stranger in an unfamiliar town with a dead phone and no one knowing where she is. Is this the beginning of a contemporary romance or a true crime? I understand an authors wish to connect with their teenage audiences, and many make a valiant effort to do so. But I cannot stress enough how unnecessary pop culture references are. The entire point of fiction is to take a reader to another reality, transport them to different, vibrant worlds. When you reference pop culture, you shatter that realm and make enjoying the novel that much harder.

Overall, I’d rate this book a two out of three, recommended to lovers of romance aged 15-17.

Affirm Kids 2025

Morgan Matson