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lizvalenz92's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Grief, Sexual content, and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Bullying, Suicide, Violence, and Animal death
agnesreads2042's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Incest, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Grief, and Death of parent
_fallinglight_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.5
Anyway, I hated that this book used an attempted sexual assault to titillate. I just don't find that hot, it was weird, and worse how Tiernan throughout this story wants to ease Kaleb's culpability and share half the blame to idk give her like control and give it nuance??? And even worse worse when it happens right after Tiernan was raped by Kaleb and then it horrifyingly segues into a sob story of Kaleb's childhood trauma and we have to like feel bad for this serial rapist and forget what he did to Tiernan??? Hello???
The writing in this is terrible; the way every complication was conveniently resolved by Jake or Noah knowing information that would absolve Kaleb of any would be wrongdoing, like if he's a baby daddy (HIPAA? we don't know her) or how also conveniently Kaleb turned out being a diarist and therefore all character development was lazily shown through that. The characterizations were even worse, just all-around levels of dross. (Jake disappears out of the story in a haphazardly done way though who cares bc he SUCKED. And Noah, who is the most normal one out of these clowns but the bar is in hell so, was just a doormat and spokesperson for the man-child nontalking troglodyte. He deserved better. Actually getting away from this horrendous family.)
I'm not too close minded and I don't moral outrage easily so the step-family incest angle of this did nothing to me and I could've overlooked it but the out of nowhere "romance", "love" with a sexual abuser and all the steps Penelope Douglas took to make it cute just enraged me. But then again, there are other awful sins this book makes like sexualizing pigtails (!!) and Penelope Douglas thinking having the attention of an ambiguous 40 year old when you're 17 is hot. Idk about anyone else but at 17 I DID NOT want some 40-something year olds sexual attention and now at 33 I don't want to feel 17 again thinking how nice it'd be to have some 40-something year olds advances. And there's sprinkled homophobic prison rape jokes, for good measure.
I enjoy smut but nothing written here was even good bc the characters were fecal matter awful and just everything that preceded it throughout the story was a nightmare. The ableism and sexism towards Tiernan, for example. This Jake dude wants her to "smile more" and be his little ray of sunshine and her maybe neurodivergence is weaponized against her but his animalistic son who doesn't WANT to communicate is ok? Yeah yeah. At some random point it's shown that Jake wanted to teach Kaleb ASL and whatnot but it was only to conveniently explain what a gesture Kaleb made before disappearing again meant. In conclusion, this is a mediocre and stupid and bad book. Save yourself and don't read it. Don't let curiosity kill the cat like I did.
Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Cursing, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Ableism, Rape, and Suicide
Minor: Homophobia and Abandonment
booksalacarte's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Thank you NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing Group for the Advanced eReader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Rape, Sexual content, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Grief, and Physical abuse
potalian's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Suicide, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Moderate: Grief, Cursing, Blood, Abandonment, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, and Violence
Minor: Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Confinement
sldibened's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Pedophilia, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Abandonment, Bullying, Cursing, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual content, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Incest, and Infidelity
kassidyscatalogue's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Incest, Rape, Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent
usjdjfnnffm2737'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
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Grief, and Sexual content
Minor: Drug use
demy_summer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Animal death, Child abuse, Incest, Pregnancy, Medical content, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Gun violence
dawnlayla0715's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Sexual content, Stalking, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Incest, and Violence