Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - The fine print

"Love does make people helpless, but only because they willingly accept it. Because to love someone else means to trust them enough to not abuse the power they have over you." ♥

You can never go wrong with the grumpy/sunshine trope. Rowan and Zahra’s story is so entertaining and their chemistry is *chef’s kiss*. Zahra was definitely my favourite character: she was an absolute ray of sunshine. I loved her passion for her work, her love for her sister, her determination and the fact that she does not give up on her dreams. Even though Rowan was definitely grumpy, it made me so happy to see him opening up to Zahra little by little.

These two characters may be quite different but the way they complete and learn from each other shows that they were meant to be together from the start. I found myself constantly smiling while reading this book (and also crying sometimes because it is probably impossible to find men like Rowan). I particularly loved the representation of mental illness, it truly made me so happy. Also, can we talk about this cover? My my, it is beautiful.

Content Warnings

sofieskj's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I LOVE THIS BOOK. It might end up being my favorite book of all time. I just happy thing about it, you could say. It gives you grumpy x sunshine, i hate everyone with you, protective, posseiv. Zahra's whole mood, enegry and vibe is to die for. When you read you can't stop your self for smiling. She is so wholesome if that is correct to say? I dont know how to explain it. I just love her. The way she acts like a child sometimes, AWWWWWWWWW. I also cant get over how moody Rowan is. It hillarous sometimes. THe spsicy parts of the book lived to my exception after what i heard about it before reading. (this review makes no sense). This book offered me everything, EVERYTHING. Some sad moments, many many funny, cute, and quricky momments, and some unexpected scens that i loved, it gave carring and procetiv Rowan.
This copy of the book incluedes the extende eupolg.

After reading This book the second time, I was not a five star read for me.

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hiraeth_'s review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

2.75

Don't get me wrong on the 2.75 rating - it's giving everything what it has been advertised as, it just wasn't my cup of tea lol. We get an rich and bossy ✨emotionally unavailable man✨ and a quirky, loving sunshine woman that works for him. What more can I say?

I actually liked the grumpy x sunshine dynamic in the end even though it's obv very cliché. The characters grew on me even though Rowan is a possessive alphahole (to quote SJM) and Zhara felt a little too not-like-other-girls from time to time. I enjoyed their story even though it was very predictable and some of the struggles seemed unreasonable (the 2nd conflict was so unnecessary). You see? It was a nice, quick read which had me cringing more often than i hoped (some really strong wattpad vibes) but was also able to force a little silly smile out of me. If i had been able to fully immerse into the story the backstories might have made me more emotional, but half of the time i couldn't take Rowan and his daddy issues seriously (even though they are obv understandable, but it just felt very stereotypical).

I really like romance novels but i catch myself being hyper aware of red flags every time i pick a book like that up which leads to me not being able to fully enjoy it. I am a huge advocate for the whole "it's not the same! no, but it's not the same!" when it comes to enjoying (romance) books which display things that are questionable. But i need the story to be written very thoughtfully so i'm emotionally invested before cringe or my red-flags-alarm kick in. Often times I wished the author would've chosen to "show, don't tell".

So: A nice read for everyone who can shut their brain up when sth along the lines "i want to own you" or "you don't have a say in this" comes up. Or who can enjoy reading a billionaire romance without rolling their eyes at the amount of unchecked privilege and classism it displays/reproduces.

Otherwise this book got everything you want from christian-grey-like-flexing-with-wealth (v over the top dates which one can only dream of), a little bit of kind-of-forbidden romance over girl turns icy guy into a simp to tragic backstories.

Content Warnings

valreadssometimes's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Honestly, this reads like a Disney wattpad story, but it wasn’t bad enough that I couldn’t finish it. The main female lead is bubbly, bright, and boring and the main male love interest is the dark, brooding, and secretly emotional one.

Rowan, the main lead, felt really rude and spoiled in the book, so much so that I was kind of disappointed with Zahra for putting up with him.

After the whole hospital breakup thing I was rooting against him. The fact that Zahra just forgave him and got back together after he gave ONE speech about inclusivity and caring for employees made me so irritated with the book.

Even though there were some sweet moments and nice exchanges between the two, they were always followed up by Rowan doing or saying something to negate his actions.

Fun fact: a main plot line of this book is “caring and hardworking billionaire solves the minimum wage issue because he met a woman.” Poor thing, I didn’t know billionaires struggled with being accepted by others because of the way they mistreat and underpay their workers. Yeah, I didn’t like Rowan.

Zahra, the main female lead, is kinda boring. I understand that she’s meant to be the typical person people can relate to, but the way she acts and speaks does NOT let you forget that what you’re reading is just someone’s fantasy dream of working at Disney. She never stops drooling over the park and treating it like it’s her life, even to the point where I was mentally screaming at her internal monologues. Also, I would have liked to see a bit more of a strong personality, since she basically just went along with Rowan all the time.

What self respecting person accepts someone who lies constantly and decides to end things with you AT A HOSPITAL just because they said that inclusivity is a good thing? That’s the bare minimum!

There’s a trauma dump section near the end of the book that kinda comes out of nowhere too, so watch out.

Anyways, this book made me feel things, but not the good ones. I know a lot of people love this book and I wanted to love it too, but it just wasn’t it.

Content Warnings

sami_leigh's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.75

🌶🌶.5

Content Warnings

kyeruhh's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

Some of it was a little cringe but for the most part I really enjoyed this book!

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