Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Happy Place - Urlaub mit dem Ex by Emily Henry

65 reviews

leligavi's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful sad tense fast-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? No

4.0

Emily Henry did it again. 
Man I really, really loved this book. I think Wyn is my favorite Henry male protagonist, by far. He was so sweet, loving, and respectful, but also really self-deprecating but that made the rest of his character super interesting. 
This book was so good because (as someone who is married and loves my husband with all of my heart) I felt true pain at the thought of my person and I going through what Harriet and Wyn do in this book. 
It was so painful to read the overthinking, and the comments, and the hurt, the anger, the tears. The wishing I could do or say this but not being able to because you aren't MINE anymore. Heartbreaking, JUST HEARTBREAKING. 
The other characters were cool I guess, but all I really cared about was them. 

After some reflection, I'm actually going to drop my rating from a 5 to a 4. I really didn't care about the other characters, in fact, most of them annoyed me. Especially Sabrina (is that her name? I don't even remember). And also, the gummy bear scene just really didn't need to happen and I cringed at most of it and skimmed the rest. 

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suzyq's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0


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macaronsandmermaids's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0


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lizardbet's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

way more emotionally intelligent than i ever expected, and i spent a hefty chunk of the last third or so quietly crying to myself trying not to wake up my boyfriend sleeping next to me (not that it’s specifically sad or anything, but the stories of changing and growing and these complicated romantic and platonic relationships hit me like a truck).

much less fluffy than i thought when i picked it up but also i couldn’t put it down? it kept me on my toes and i didn’t ever quite know where things were going but in a good way, and i liked the ending

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allisonbraun's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring sad fast-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

5.0


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alexelli's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense slow-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

2.75


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immovabletype's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

I laughed, I cried, I swooned; I did all three at the same time and ended up choking on my own spit. Emily Henry is my happy place.

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bumblemee's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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

4.0

Oh well, these self-deprecating little losers got a place in my heart now <3

I'm always a sucker for the found family trope, which immediately made me like this book. The characters are such a well thought out friend group, who love each other so much that it'll warm your heart in no time. Their relationships with each other felt very real, which helped making the characters themselves feel real. All of them just .. made sense in a way. I also thought most of them had their time to shine and become a complex person in the eye of the reader, which I think was nice, because I worry sometimes that side characters don't get enough depth, since they're not the couple the story focuses on. But in this case I got a clear sense for all of them, which makes sense since while this is a romance book, it takes its time to explore friendship as well.

I really loved Harriet - probably bc I related to her a lot. Maybe you find her annoying if you can't see aspects of yourself in her and would just like to shake her sometimes and tell her that she's way too much in her head without finding someone to do a reality check with. She struggles a lot with listening to her own needs and the negative consequences this can have, even if her goal is to do the opposite: make everyone happy.
I thought it was very interesting how Harriet and Wyn were written - both with low self-esteem for different reasons and in a way that makes it hard for them to communicate effectively when they'd need it most. It's sometimes hard to read this kind of story, where there's a lack of communication, which you as the reader can see clearly. But in this case it felt very natural, you could understand why they can't get their shit together sooner. (Not gonna lie though, I was a little frustrated at times, but it was okay.)

The tone of this book was a little bittersweet in my opinion, especially because we spend a lot of time exploring the relationships between characters before the events of the book (the good and he bad), but also get to see the complicated situation they're in at the moment. A lot of people on here say that this book is "lighthearted" and I see why, but to me it wasn't. Maybe that's a matter of the state you're in when reading this and how the topics resonate with you. It my case, this book didn't drag me down or anything, but it made me (a little) sad more often than not to be honest, so I can't say I thought of it as lighthearted.


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lynds_13's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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phoevincent's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing 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

4.5


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