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beccamarriner's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- 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
2.5
As a concept I think the story had so much potential but I found it very hard to like a single character. Monica was the only one that grew on me but I felt like her character development was lost at the end. her relationship with Hazard felt rushed and unnatural, especially because I feel like in the real world, a random postcard from a stranger is threatening, not worthy of being pinned to a wall. It meant that their chemistry was lacking and unbelievable for me. Julian was also just a manipulative liar and had an ending that felt like a cop out as he died for no reason and without facing the consequences of his actions to the full extent. The redeeming qualities for me were the side characters such as Benji, Baz and Betty (Mrs Wu) and I believe the Authenticity Project could’ve been so much better following their authentic selves and the journey of open sexuality in a traditional Chinese family rather than a mommy blogger who’s addicted to her phone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
Moderate: Pregnancy, Homophobia, and Grief
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Death
ramreadsagain's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
On balance this is just over a three star read as there are a lot of things I liked but also quite a bit I didn’t like.
I thought the characters weren’t very well developed beyond their main “thing” and half the time I didn’t understand why they all because such good friends as they never seemed very compatible.
Julian was just straight up an unpleasant character.
However I did like the message of first impressions often being wrong and the need to be honest and communicate, the “found family” aspects as well as some of the character growth shown.
I didn’t like how Alice’s character was framed as it really just boiled down to “technology and influencers bad”. I understand the point about authenticity and a lot of celebrities and influencers being unauthentic and their online lives being shallow/fake however the book also just seemed to treat her career (because that’s what it was) in quite a derogatory fashion.
I thought the characters weren’t very well developed beyond their main “thing” and half the time I didn’t understand why they all because such good friends as they never seemed very compatible.
Julian was just straight up an unpleasant character.
However I did like the message of first impressions often being wrong and the need to be honest and communicate, the “found family” aspects as well as some of the character growth shown.
I didn’t like how Alice’s character was framed as it really just boiled down to “technology and influencers bad”. I understand the point about authenticity and a lot of celebrities and influencers being unauthentic and their online lives being shallow/fake however the book also just seemed to treat her career (because that’s what it was) in quite a derogatory fashion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism
Moderate: Death and Pregnancy
Minor: Suicide, Classism, Homophobia, and Outing
annir's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Death, Drug use, and Drug abuse
Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Death of parent, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Outing, and Pregnancy
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