Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - By a Thread

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

By a Thread by Lucy Score

9 reviews

bergha1998's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Wow, so dang cute but also so dang sad. Check the TWs for this one because there is a lot on infinity, sexual assault and harassment, and just general trauma. I loved the banter between Ally and Dominic. Though I will admit the 3rd act break up was dumb af. The side characters were all a blast. A fun read overall.

Office Romance, Enemies to Lovers, Insta Lust, 3 1/2 🔥

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pageafter_paige's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

This was my first office romance read and I really enjoyed it!! Ally and Dom showed that love and hate is such a thin line because they are truly enemies to lovers. The tension between them was THICK and the slow burn was worth the wait. I will say when I initially started reading it was giving cringe language (like I was expecting to see “doggo” at one point) but it toned down quick and I enjoyed the book even more every time I picked it up. I will say, one thing about Lucy Score is she loves a male love interest with a dog 😂 (shout out to Brownie)

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ariana_m's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted slow-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

4.75

4.75 stars. This was my first Lucy Score book and I loved it!

It was so easy to get into from the first page and it didn't go into unnecessary detail. The banter in this was top notch. Honestly some of the best banter that I have read in a long time. I was actually smiling, blushing and laughing out loud at times. Ally and Dominic's chemistry was amazing. Their story as individuals was good as well. The buildup of their relationship was really good. I didn't think I was going to like this that much because of how long the book is but it's really worth reading. The side characters were amazing, I liked them a lot too and how much they added to the plot. The only thing was that coming down to the end the conflict seemed kinda rushed but the grovel was great.Also they are 39 and 44 but act like they're in their twenties and I can't get past it. If I ever act like that at that age please slap me lol. All in all though this book was pretty much vibes but it was so good, I had fun reading it and I would recommend, especially if you like "The Devil Wears Prada".

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dianaschmidty's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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sigreads_'s review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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chrisljm's review against another edition

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challenging lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

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dwinn5's review against another edition

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emotional funny tense medium-paced

I have to say, I was pretty disappointed by this book. It was hard for me to like Dominic right from the beginning (I can’t stand people who are rude to servers) and it basically never got better. I felt bad for him and I understood his trauma, but he never learned the lesson that every other character was literally screaming at him the entire book: you can’t use your trauma as an excuse to treat other people terribly.

He’s manipulative and controlling even when he’s supposed to be winning her back and he never listens to her. She spends the whole book telling him that she doesn’t want his money and it’s very clear that she wants emotional support, so what does he do? Throws money at every problem (despite her explicitly telling him not to), ices her out at every chance he gets, and makes decisions for her like some kind of patronizing a-hole.

I like Ally and I genuinely think she deserves better, I basically wasn’t rooting for them at all by the end.

Content Warnings

noellelovesbooks's review against another edition

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4.25

Content Warnings: Sexual scenes, parent with dementia, parental abandonment, toxic relationships [both familial and romantic], sexism, and pregnancy.
Mention of: workplace sexual harassment, sexual assault [of minor and adults], abuse of power, and infidelity.

Ally is juggling a lot to ensure her father, who has dementia, gets the best quality care he can. Working a handful of different jobs and barely making ends meet has made the last year extremely stressful. When an entitled customer refuses to put his phone away, which is a restaurant policy, she’s ready to give him a taste of his own medicine.

Forced to take his father’s position, as creative director at his mother’s magazine, Dominic is determined to show he’s a hard worker and not anything like his sleazy dad. Feeling like he doesn’t deserve the job he was given he’s constantly second-guessing himself and wonders if he’ll ever get the swing of things. It’s been a year of non-stop stress and repression of anger so when a server calls him out on his behavior he decides to give her, and her manager, a piece of his mind.

Dominic hates that all the associates always seem nervous or afraid of him but that doesn’t mean he was excited to find out his mother hired Ally. As soon as he sees her he tries to fire her but sadly her employment is not up to him. What’s worse than working with someone who doesn’t seem to respect you? Finding that same person increasingly attractive.

I adored the banter between these two and the steady slow burn as they fought their growing attraction to each other. As someone who’s read many third-act conflicts/breakups, I wasn’t prepared for how much this one would hurt. The problem that arises, and words that are said, is one that I felt wasn’t given adequate time for forgiveness to make sense…at least for me.

The opposites attract, workplace romance, and enemies to lovers vibes really had me going and I was smiling and laughing through most of the book. Overall I really enjoyed the book but I would have appreciated a little more time spend on the final conflict. It felt, to me, like it was resolved rather quickly though the book technically tells us it’s been a decent span of time.

***Bit of a Spoiler about the ending below, STOP READING if you don’t want the spoiler***

I really enjoyed the ending except that out of nowhere Ally tells Dominic she’s pregnant. It didn’t feel necessary. The way the ending was written, I feel, it would have been better to just do everything the same but not have that pregnancy announcement. Then in the bonus epilogue [that I think you get for signing up for a newsletter] have a bit about how after the book ended they found out they were going to have a baby etc.

Due to them being 39 and 44 when the book started and them not mentioning wanting kids, the entire book, I wrongfully assumed this would be a romance without pregnancy so those few final pages really threw me off. I have a lot of friends who don’t want kids or who’ve struggled with infertility who love reading romance books, that don’t include pregnancy in them, so I was really excited to recommend this book…until that ending. 😅

Content Warnings

ecravens's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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

3.75

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