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4.31 AVERAGE
4.31 AVERAGE
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-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
adventurous
emotional
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual content
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
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
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-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
hopeful
lighthearted
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Very cute romcom! Definitely not as good as Love & Other Disasters (and equally unrealistic). There was something about these characters that made me feel like they weren't built to last and their relationship, though sweet, should have stayed a special PCT memory.
Anita Kelly, you cruel, cruel, beautiful, wonderful monster. How do you keep breaking my heart and knitting it back together, just a little more healed, just a little warmer and more understanding than before? How do you keep taking aspects of me and my relationships and teasing them out in ways I could never do myself?
I loved Love & Other Disasters so much I read an excerpt from it at our wedding. Hearing Dahlia process her divorce and reclaiming stability, adulthood, and cooking, made me feel so seen, so acknowledged, so heartbroken and so hopeful for myself.
In this story, Ben is a little bit aimless, full of self-doubt and shame over his career and previous relationships. Alexei is coming from a conservative religious upbringing and coping with the trauma of a family of origin that refuses to accept his true self.
Hearing their inner monologues, seeing many issues and dynamics that so mirror my own was illuminating and beautiful and heartbreaking and healing.
I am privileged and lucky to have a family a lot like Ben's - supportive and nurturing and welcoming. But I know far too many people in our community that do not get that support, that get to the point of being estranged or cut off. Hearing the inner monologue of someone healing from those traumas, and how it affects their perception of relationships, helped me a lot.
And hearing the thoughts of both sides of the grumpy/introverted and the sunshine/extroverted relationship is always really poignant for me, as I realize that the extroverted/sunshiny one (me) isn't inherently always overwhelming. That quiet can be cultivated and lovely and calming. That it's okay to not align perfectly with your partner, as long as you are also thoughtful and attentive. I particularly needed that today, in this moment of reading it, and how this book found me right when I needed it, I'll never know.
This is all to say that I didn't think Anita Kelly could punch me so hard in the feels again, but they completely and utterly succeeded. And I feel just a little more whole, just a little more hopeful.
I loved Love & Other Disasters so much I read an excerpt from it at our wedding. Hearing Dahlia process her divorce and reclaiming stability, adulthood, and cooking, made me feel so seen, so acknowledged, so heartbroken and so hopeful for myself.
In this story, Ben is a little bit aimless, full of self-doubt and shame over his career and previous relationships. Alexei is coming from a conservative religious upbringing and coping with the trauma of a family of origin that refuses to accept his true self.
Hearing their inner monologues, seeing many issues and dynamics that so mirror my own was illuminating and beautiful and heartbreaking and healing.
I am privileged and lucky to have a family a lot like Ben's - supportive and nurturing and welcoming. But I know far too many people in our community that do not get that support, that get to the point of being estranged or cut off. Hearing the inner monologue of someone healing from those traumas, and how it affects their perception of relationships, helped me a lot.
And hearing the thoughts of both sides of the grumpy/introverted and the sunshine/extroverted relationship is always really poignant for me, as I realize that the extroverted/sunshiny one (me) isn't inherently always overwhelming. That quiet can be cultivated and lovely and calming. That it's okay to not align perfectly with your partner, as long as you are also thoughtful and attentive. I particularly needed that today, in this moment of reading it, and how this book found me right when I needed it, I'll never know.
This is all to say that I didn't think Anita Kelly could punch me so hard in the feels again, but they completely and utterly succeeded. And I feel just a little more whole, just a little more hopeful.
adventurous
hopeful
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
This book isn't for me. I tried... I really tried.