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alizirrah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Some other issues I had with it:
* The James Royce-Royce thing was supposed to be funny I think, but there was no real way of differentiating between them so it kind of blobbed into one character.
* Several of the characters, especially Luc's coworkers, are very neurodivergent-coded and kind of bullied and made the butt of the joke a lot. Made me a bit uncomfortable.
The side-plot of the emotionally immature and neglectful parents was somewhat compelling (if frustrating), but I don't know if that pulls the rest of it up enough. So. Three stars it is? Doubtful that I'll read the sequel.
Graphic: Homophobia, Abandonment, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Sexual content, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Cancer
valpuri's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Homophobia, Classism, Emotional abuse, and Cursing
Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, and Fatphobia
Minor: Racism, Addiction, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, and Cancer
_bobatea_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Abandonment, Cancer, Mental illness, and Alcohol
Minor: Drug abuse, Addiction, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Classism, Eating disorder, Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
_bobatea_'s review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Cancer, and Mental illness
Minor: Sexual harassment, Classism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Addiction, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Body shaming, and Kidnapping
ashwaar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Lucien is the semi-famous, washed-up son of an 80s rock legend. With his dad and, by extension, Lucien himself, coming back into the spotlight, he needs to find a polite, presentable boyfriend to restore his reputation ahead of an important charity event. He comes to an agreement with Oliver, who also needs a plus-one for a family gathering, to fake date until the events are over and the tabloids have become bored of Lucien’s lack of misbehaving.
However, fake dating is never really a good idea if you don’t want to end up real dating, as inevitably happens in this trope. Lucien doesn’t have the best personality, and he's pretty rude and thinks he’s better than everyone else whilst also being extremely self-deprecating. However, you learn to love him anyway, and it's really rewarding to see him grow as he becomes closer to Oliver. Speaking of Oliver, he is also a really interesting character. At first glance, he's a pretty perfect boyfriend until we start to look closer and see it's all a carefully built façade that he’s trying really hard not to break.
It can be tough to absorb what these characters think of themselves, as they’re their own harshest critics and, as a reader, you don’t want to let them believe that.. you want them to be happy. There are a lot of characters in this book, and for the most part, the personalities are pretty distinct. However, I felt like too many people were introduced at once in certain scenes. Some characters were over-dramatic cartoons or not really there at all and just faded into the background.
But despite this minor issue, I don’t really have any other complaints. I thought this was a solid, well-rounded, character-focused novel with a lot of energy and heart behind it. I’m keen to follow up on Lucien and Oliver, and I’ve already got the second novel, Husband Material, in my queue at the library.
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Homophobia
Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, and Eating disorder
annahamburger's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cursing, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Classism, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Dysphoria, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, and Infidelity
Minor: Death of parent and Death
alexelli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Homophobia, Terminal illness, Cancer, Chronic illness, Abandonment, and Addiction
Minor: Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Mental illness
tinysierra's review against another edition
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Luc’s friend group had a group chat that they kept changing the name to funny puns. One of them was
Luc’s thought process felt kind of convoluted at times and I do think the book could have been shorter.
The sex and kissing were fade to black, which was nice as an asexual reader who is used to reading YA.
I love continuing to see the normalization of male characters crying and express their feelings. The characters have struggles and self image issues that I felt were realistic.
As an American reader, I feel like there were some jokes and general things that kind of flew over my head and showed my ignorance about the British aristocracy and things like that.
There are multiple Harry Potter references, which make sense in a book set where JKR is from, but anyone who wants to avoid any mentions of the series should probably skip this book. The mentions are brief without getting detailed but they happen at least four times.
Welcome to Night Vale (the podcast) and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller were also mentioned.
There were talks about vegetarianism, ethical consumption, body image issues, homophobia, fat phobia, childhood abandonment. There was a bit of drinking.
Rant on parenting/childcare:
On the other hand, there was another couple that expressed that they did not want children and wished their parents would stop pressuring them to have them. I did appreciate the inclusion of happily childless characters.
Moderate: Fatphobia, Homophobia, Cancer, Abandonment, and Body shaming
josoko's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Homophobia and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Terminal illness, Abandonment, Cancer, and Addiction
Minor: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Eating disorder, and Body shaming
jjjreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Classism, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Sexual content