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Graphic: Sexual content, Outing
Moderate: Homophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Gaslighting
Graphic: Cursing, Outing
Moderate: Biphobia, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content
Minor: Hate crime, Racism, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Classism, Deportation
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual content, Outing
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Biphobia, Hate crime, Religious bigotry
Graphic: Cursing, Homophobia, Outing
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent
Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Outing, Alcohol, Colonisation, Classism
Moderate: Sexual assault
Graphic: Biphobia, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Outing, Alcohol
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Homophobia, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Outing, Alcohol
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual content, Outing
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Grief, Alcohol
Minor: Religious bigotry, Abandonment
First big issue: POV. I genuinely cannot fathom why this book was written in the third person. Don't get me wrong, I can really appreciate a third person book (although I typically prefer first person). In fact, two of my favorite books of all time are in the third person. However, it just did not work in this book. I just feel like third person perspectives in romances don't work for me at all. (Do you know how many times I had to read the words "Alex" and "Henry" on each page because the word "he" couldn't be used?) I think the novel would have worked a lot better and been easier to get into if it had been in the first person. It would be even better if it had been dual POV. I'm not just saying that because I love a good dual POV book, but I think it also would have prevented the book from dragging, which it did in a lot of places.
Second big issue: Characters. My favorite part of romance is falling in love with the characters, which I usually find very easy to do. By the end of this book, I only really loved one character (Henry <3) and liked two others (June and Alex). I don't really hate any of the other characters (except Richards, of course), but I'm just totally neutral on them. I feel like there were just too many of them to be honest. There were multiple instances where the book was discussing certain characters that I had to really rack my brain to try to remember. I feel like this is another reason the first person POV would have worked better for me. I feel like it's a lot easier to love characters when you're inside the mind of someone who does.
Those are the main things I would say hold the book back. There are definitely others,
First big strength: Humor. This is actually one of the funniest romances I've ever read. Other romance books usually get an exhale out of me, but very rarely an actual laugh. This book made me genuinely laugh twice. That might not sound like a lot to other people, but it definitely is for me. I feel like the characters played off of each other really well, and there were just a lot of scenarios that led to some really funny moments.
Second big strength: The last quarter. So, you know how I said this book was really hard to get into? That includes a lot of the middle section unfortunately. However, when there were about 100 pages left, the
Overall, this definitely isn't one of the best books I've read. It's not even close. That being said, it's very charming in a lot of ways and I can definitely see why so many people love it. If you think you can get past the issues I talked about, then this could very well be a great book for you.
Graphic: Cursing, Homophobia, Outing
Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Death of parent, Alcohol
Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Genocide, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Outing, Alcohol, Dysphoria
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Classism
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Colonisation
Graphic: Cursing, Homophobia, Sexual content, Grief, Outing
Moderate: Biphobia, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Alcohol
Minor: Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Death of parent