Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Fiancée Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur

5 reviews

heather667's review against another edition

emotional funny 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Bullying, Classism, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, and Grief

Minor: Vomit, Infidelity, and Ableism

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

emotional funny fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

I laughed, I cried, I enjoyed the journey. I loved the mix of humor and serious topics. It was a great book with great MCs who I loved. And some easy-to-hate villains, along with some characters in the middle. Overall a great book. I hope Teddy gets his own book as well ;) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Sexual content, Cursing, and Grief

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity

jupitermond's review

funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol and Sexual harassment

Minor: Sexism, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Mental illness, and Sexual harassment

wilybooklover's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

3.75

Adorable, low-angst sapphic romance. It’s more of a fake engagement than a true marriage of convenience story

(by the time the marriage rolls around in the penultimate chapter the leads are already in love with each other),

but it was pulled off quite well for a contemporary. I really enjoyed the lack of drama between the couple and the excellent level of communication they had. I also loved that they were both bi since bi4bi sapphic romances seem to be vanishingly rare! 

There were a few too many side characters in my opinion, especially since quite a few of them had important plot points (and most of them were frankly awful people). It was hard to keep them all straight since a few of them had very similar names and between them they took up way too much page-time. 

I do hate the UK cover though. While the US cover has its issues (Tansy is explicitly described as curvy and several sizes bigger than Gemma), it's so much better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Homophobia

decklededgess's review

funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

5.0

trigger warnings: bullying, sexual harassment, grief, death of parent, anxiety, sexual content, alcohol, emotional abuse, infidelity, toxic friendship

Alexandria Bellefleur writes some of the cutest and softest sapphic romances out there. This is the first marriage/engagement of convenience she has and it is wildly different from the Written in the Stars series yet it holds the same charm and tenderness that all three books in the other series do.

Gemma and Tansy are such polar opposites, a rakish model and heiress versus a soft-spoken wallfower. The magnetism between the two of them from the get go drew me in to root for their fake relationship but the way they learn to care for each other and cherish each others' quirks and passions and past hurts was what made them a solid leading couple in my mind.

I additionally really enjoyed the glimpses of Gemma's queer friend group, her mother, and her non asshole uncle. They really rounded out the story as supporting characters, they added in humour, a support system for the leads, and just more shenanigans to spruce up the story. The timeline of the book was relatively short so I felt like the extra fluff was appropriately added to pad the story in a fun way. Conversely, Tansy's network was rather small but it fit with her characterization and backstory.

I really enjoyed the drama, the antics, and fun of the book. The Taylor Swift references were also fun if corny easter eggs throughout the story but in my books TS is corny on purpose so it was in fact perfect. 

Loved it!!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship