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hgrimston'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
4.5
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death
adamparrishlover's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Grief, Death of parent, Addiction, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, Mental illness, Drug abuse, and Infidelity
Moderate: Sexual content, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Suicide
mrs_gale's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
I kept waiting to read about the way that Cleo and Frank's relationship actually impacted their friends, but it never did!
It's just a variety of characters that somewhat link to Cleo and Frank, with a bunch of additional characters while mentioning a huge number of topics without exploring them much. The characters don't do much except drink and drugs.
The number of characters is huge, some are only mentioned briefly. I did not care for a single one, not even the main characters. They had no redeeming qualities, just really immature and self-absorbed and not developed well.
Shocked to discover it took 7 years to write! I did not enjoy this book, I cannot recommend it.
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Self harm, and Mental illness
Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Addiction, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Drug use, and Drug abuse
Minor: Grief, Sexism, Death of parent, and Transphobia
leils's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
The author does have a way of digesting hard themes with her easily flowing writing style, which made this book actually readable.
Wouldn't recommend this to anyone, but I am going to see what the author comes up with next 🪩⚡🤍
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Blood, Cursing, Drug use, Self harm, and Toxic relationship
elisem04's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Graphic: Drug abuse, Animal death, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Self harm
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, and Drug abuse
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
riagibbison's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The two main characters, and almost all of the rest of the cast are such unlikeable people - you can only really root for Eleanor and Santiago in my eyes. Don’t even start me on Quinton.
This needed to be more grounded, money just isn’t an issue for people in this book, when Zoe is in debt she has multiple people ready to bail her out and of course the source (without spoiling it) ends up being a really nice person with minimal consequences for her.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this at the time, but it didn’t blow me away or make me think “wow” at any moment. Well thought out characters but lacking the plot I was after.
Graphic: Drug abuse, Suicide, and Drug use
Minor: Animal cruelty
minimicropup's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Main POVs: 👌
-a 24 year old recent fine art graduate who presents as carefree, confident, and adventurous but is harbouring a deep sense of shame, depressive disorders, and unhealthy ego. They blame everyone and everything for their struggles. We get to see them slowly evolve and where it comes from in their past
-a 44 year old functional alcoholic and advertising entrepreneur who is successful and perhaps a “charming” drunk but painfully immature and people-pleasing in a shallow way. We also see them evolve and where this tendency comes from
-a witty, intuitive, cynical 37 year old television/film writer recently forced out of their job and now living with their elderly wise-cracking parent
Show’n’tell: ❤️
So much show! Though half the time you aren’t quite sure what you’re being shown, it adds to the story. Like bringing a neon crayon set in an unlabelled package, revealing them individually, then passing them around the class.
Reading Journey: 👌
People-watching on the NY subway from early morning ‘til late night. There will be moments of boredom, confusion, cringing, heartwarmth (?), and laughter.
Great match if you like:
-literary fiction with character-driven narratives that are infuriating, hilarious, and inspiring
-believable outcomes (follows MCs over a two-year period)
-character studies involving addiction, mental illness, and childhood trauma
-NYC party vibes with consequences included
-a sprinkling of randomness
-wrong time and place romance
Vibes: 😅🥺🥴
Format: Library E-book via Libby
Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Moderate: Abandonment, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Chronic illness
Minor: Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Toxic friendship, and Vomit
Addiction includes alcoholism (and recovery), food addiction (and recovery), relationship addiction/codependent friendships, meth, and heroinsimplychloe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
desireewoodwhite's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Blood, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Sexism, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Animal death, and Adult/minor relationship
auteaandtales's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Sexual content, Self harm, Misogyny, Transphobia, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, and Drug use
Minor: Animal death, Racism, Body shaming, and Animal cruelty