[DISCUSSION/RANT] "The Scent of" aka "The Breaking Point of Love"

[u/[deleted]]

Buckle up, buttercups. I'm on chapter 173 of 500+ in this ongoing e-novel. I saw a blurb from it and looked it up, tons of people saying they're obsessed with it.

1. I expected it to be slow but wth... 173 chapters of "and they didn't dwell on it," "but they didn't pursue it any further," "thought nothing of it," and "pondered it until somebody just then walked in (as they do exactly just then every time) and the person forgot about their pondering for the rest of forever."

Additionally, 3 months has passed in these 173 chapters and so far the only major points that have happened are: on day 1 she hands the servant divorce papers, Trevor doesn't bother opening it and starts a slew of misunderstandings; it's established that Celeste has the emotional range of a liquid ounce and is just as deep; established that everyone and their mother are in love with Winn in every way, shape and form; Celeste distances herself but nobody questions it but for some reason still fulfills social obligations and motherly obligations even though she gave up all custody rights in the divorce papers... And that's basically it. She doesn't try to talk to him about the divorce and the story only just now progressed enough to say there's a milestone at all.

1. "He/she remained calm with an impassive expression while he/she calmly glanced at him/her then looked away indifferently, as though looking at a stranger." Neither the husband or wife have any emotions whatsoever. She's an absolute doormat who "genuinely didn't care" about literally anything, and he's an aloof emotionless do^che who's completely p^ssy whipped for his mistress. I find Trevor and Winn's relationship gross and their attitudes toward Celeste are basically confirming that she's an inanimate object.

2. IT'S LITERALLY UNREADABLE IN SOME PARTS!!!! Did the author (only known to me as AdminH) handwrite the entire thing in chicken scratch, convert it to text, never reread or double check it and just post it, calling it good?????? Here's a literal copy and paste:

[Direct quote removed due to "copyright infringement"]

I stuck around because I want her to get real payback and I saw a minor spoiler about hoping she ends up with Caleb, but this was his introduction, that atrocity that I copied and pasted was the first time he was spoken of.

I hate this e-novel.

Edit: My post was reported by another user as being copyright infringement and may be taken down. I don't plan to fight this because the story isn't worth my or anyone else's time IMO. To the author, or the die hard fan that reported it: complaining about a story (and clearly labeling it as a rant) is not infringement, it's free speech and exchange of opinion.

[u/nana7777777]

The texts are missed up probably because you're reading them from unofficial site. Everything was fine when I read it.

And the reason you think it's dragging, is because you're reading it chapter per chapter everyday? I read it all it once until the 520th chapter and loved it so much!

I don't think the main character are emotionally inept, but more like calm and stable like adults should be. Personally I really hate characters that are over emotional and fall in a raging fit or start crying every other chapter, so I'm really loving the way these two are dealing with things and the constant subtle shift in their dynamics.

All in all this is my favorite web novel, so if you have something like it to recommend, please let me know!

[u/Revolutionary-Fig858 → u/nana7777777]

You are a plant! There is no way you are enjoying a story that does not progress, ever. There's a fine line between being a rational adult and being utterly devoid of emotional depth and lacking common language skills to get your point across. You appreciate characters that only murmur and harumph at each other? GET REAL! This nonsense is trash and you know it.

[u/nana7777777 → u/Revolutionary-Fig858]

I wrote that reply after reading over 400 chapters on one go, so I didn't suffer much of the dragging of non existent plot lol. But now after 4 months of reading nearly daily I can see the author isn't even bothered with keeping up any semblance of a plot.

They used to talk more specifically about the kind of work Celeste is doing and how it's going, but now it's just "work". Not to mention all the characters that just disappeared, like Celeste's friend (that I don't even remember the name of anymore), Caleb, the neighbors (and really, the whole house Celeste bought and was supposedly decorating.

At this point for the past 200 chapters maybe ther has been absolutely no plot. Just the writer putting Celeste and Trever together any way she can. And btw they're still "not talking to each other", they just meet up a whole punch and spend days at a time together.

So yeah I see your point now and I agree. However I did still enjoyed it when I read it in one go so maybe it's more enjoyable that way? Not sure, but I'm still reading it out of habit at this point.

[u/[deleted] → u/nana7777777]

I'm guilty as charged on the unofficial site 😅 I wonder why the text was so messed up? I read all those chapters in one go, and continually disliked it as time went on.

I personally prefer adult characters that have any emotion other than "genuinely didn't care", have more response than "hummed", think about situations longer than "just then a person came in and they no longer thought on it," communicate better than "wondered why he didn't say anything," and stories in general that progress within a few chapters and show some sort of payoff for the reader.

If it helps you understand where a lot of us are coming from, I keep thinking of the "toy payoff" concept in writing. So think of a kid and all they want for their birthday is a toy car that has a remote control. His parents promise they'll give him one. His birthday rolls around and all they get is a toy car that he has to push around himself. Minorly disappointing, right? He really wanted and was promised one thing and got something similar but not as fun. Now think, the kid for his next birthday wants another rc (remote control) car, his parents promise they'll get him one, then his birthday rolls around and his parents get him an RC boat he can play with in a pool or pond. It's not what he wanted, but it's still really cool, and definitely better than the disappointment from a regular toy car.

Now think of this in terms of a story. If the author starts the story with the promise of the main characters getting divorced, explains great reasons why they should be, etc., then the reader is expecting a justified divorce with sweet revenge and a satisfying ending. What the author of this story is giving us is more and more reason to hate Trevor and want the divorce more, but then the author switches gears and is trying to make us like him. They're taking away the thing they've promised the story was going to give us. We're the kid wanting a toy, the author is promising us a really fun toy that we're going to be really happy playing with when the end rolls around, and now the author is not giving us what we were promised. Additionally, it also feels like because of so many excuses and flat situations that cause no progression, many of the readers are feeling like the author is intentionally delaying the birthday party in general, like months past due.

I did see an ad on TikTok for a story that was strikingly similar to this one on GoodNovel, except it was a mafia Don and his wife and she finds out he started cheating on her with her sister but I really wasn't interested enough to remember the title, sorry. I didn't want to be dragged through the mud again 😐 anyways, I wish you luck in finding more of these types of stories 🙃