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Reviews tagging 'Child death'
Cómo terminar una historia de amor by Yulin Kuang, Yulin Kuang
103 reviews
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Suicide
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief
Moderate: Car accident
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
yes, yulin kuang, i di trust you with the film adaptations of emhen’s work. i really do.
i ADORED THIS!!!! i appreciate it when the background of characters in romcoms is actually complex and nuanced instead of *trying* to be complex and nuanced and failing miserably. kuang put so much heart and depth into helen’s emotional process and her interactions outside of grant. it really made her infuriating decisions and mind boggling responses become not only plausible but justifiable. the way these two characters are so deeply woven together in their hurt and their trauma i think makes their connection even more beautiful.
this was the PERFECT level of bantery. honestly? sometimes emhen is over the top with her banter, same vein as amy sherman palladino. kuang had her finger on the pulse of realism here; the quippy comebacks, the romantic declarations, the moments where no words work at all. everything felt seamless and natural in a way that my recent reads have not. this was artful.
also. HOT! these two have CHEMISTRY! PALPABLE! CHEMISTRY! sometimes they were so hot for each other i did question: do these two like each other for anything else? but honestly, i think readers sometimes get swept up in the spice that they forget about the build up where the bond is solidified.
i can’t wait to see what kuang does next. INCREDIBLE DEBUT! i highly recommend.
i ADORED THIS!!!! i appreciate it when the background of characters in romcoms is actually complex and nuanced instead of *trying* to be complex and nuanced and failing miserably. kuang put so much heart and depth into helen’s emotional process and her interactions outside of grant. it really made her infuriating decisions and mind boggling responses become not only plausible but justifiable. the way these two characters are so deeply woven together in their hurt and their trauma i think makes their connection even more beautiful.
this was the PERFECT level of bantery. honestly? sometimes emhen is over the top with her banter, same vein as amy sherman palladino. kuang had her finger on the pulse of realism here; the quippy comebacks, the romantic declarations, the moments where no words work at all. everything felt seamless and natural in a way that my recent reads have not. this was artful.
also. HOT! these two have CHEMISTRY! PALPABLE! CHEMISTRY! sometimes they were so hot for each other i did question: do these two like each other for anything else? but honestly, i think readers sometimes get swept up in the spice that they forget about the build up where the bond is solidified.
i can’t wait to see what kuang does next. INCREDIBLE DEBUT! i highly recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The idea of this story is thoughtful. Helen and Grant are believable characters moving on with their lives after a tragedy, forward motions in their careers, though the grief clings to each in a different manner. At times I got frustrated with Helen's character and at other times Grant was a little too good to be true. There were probably a few too many steamy chapters that, to me, did not seem necessary. In the end, I think it's a beautiful story about love and the various ways to communicate how we feel about those we love and hold dear to our hearts.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Um what. This book make no fking sense. Bc the characters are underdeveloped and have no internal arc/growth. So their decisions and choices make no sense and are not connected to who they supposedly are as people. The story is all plot *things are happening and there is sex!* but I need something deeper to believe true love is real lmao this book made me feel nothing except these two horndogs have sexual chemistry.
The very icky premise is laid out in the first chapter: the pair is a woman whose sister committed suicide and the man who was driving the car when she ran into traffic. Um why??? Why did that need to be a couple?!?! so anyway, i go on reading because it's so highly hyped, waiting for the ickiness to smooth itself out and for all these characters to like work through their collective, shared trauma and like let that emotional work bring them closer lol no none of that happens. For some reason, the main character is not turned off enough by her own grief and her partner's role in that grief - or at least his connection to it - to not have sex with him. And it's very weird like all around like have any of the people on the production side of this book ever lost a family member and/or experienced grief?? Like I know they must have, but I'm just wondering how this book ends up the book that it is. Idk call me crazy but grief is not a huge turn on for me. Much less grief by suicide! Were there sensitivity readers? I'm dying to know because some of the language used in this book seems very yeah I'm just gonna say it again icky.
If this was real like and the girl you ran over's sister asked you to fuck off their show's adaptation writing team, why would you say No!? Obviously he's not hurting for opportunities. And why would you EVER forgive him for saying no???? Can I not just suffer once, you want me to suffer every day I show up to work? Again I return to the idea that none of these editors, agents, writer, have ever actually lost anyone close to them.
Anyways. Ultimately the biggest issue here is that there is no character development. The pair has sexual chemistry as I mentioned before, but we have no idea why they do the things they do. Like it's clear, given their shared trauma, why they would *not* want to get together but what is making them ignore all of that self preservation? We'll never know because these characters are like an inch deep.
The very icky premise is laid out in the first chapter: the pair is a woman whose sister committed suicide and the man who was driving the car when she ran into traffic. Um why??? Why did that need to be a couple?!?! so anyway, i go on reading because it's so highly hyped, waiting for the ickiness to smooth itself out and for all these characters to like work through their collective, shared trauma and like let that emotional work bring them closer lol no none of that happens. For some reason, the main character is not turned off enough by her own grief and her partner's role in that grief - or at least his connection to it - to not have sex with him. And it's very weird like all around like have any of the people on the production side of this book ever lost a family member and/or experienced grief?? Like I know they must have, but I'm just wondering how this book ends up the book that it is. Idk call me crazy but grief is not a huge turn on for me. Much less grief by suicide! Were there sensitivity readers? I'm dying to know because some of the language used in this book seems very yeah I'm just gonna say it again icky.
If this was real like and the girl you ran over's sister asked you to fuck off their show's adaptation writing team, why would you say No!? Obviously he's not hurting for opportunities. And why would you EVER forgive him for saying no???? Can I not just suffer once, you want me to suffer every day I show up to work? Again I return to the idea that none of these editors, agents, writer, have ever actually lost anyone close to them.
Anyways. Ultimately the biggest issue here is that there is no character development. The pair has sexual chemistry as I mentioned before, but we have no idea why they do the things they do. Like it's clear, given their shared trauma, why they would *not* want to get together but what is making them ignore all of that self preservation? We'll never know because these characters are like an inch deep.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Suicide attempt
The premise of this book was believable- it just really isn't for me. I listened to the book for 1 hr 50 minutes and at this point the book wasn't comical or romical. Just a bummer. I could just about see around the bend about what would be forced proximity narrative and realized I just didn't care at all about these characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Car accident
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Liked a lot about this - it didn’t feel entirely successful to me, but I would certainly read more by Yulin Kuang in the future! I really appreciated that the author dived into complex familial relationships (especially with the female MC’s first-generation immigrant parents) and the specific nature of grief after losing someone close to suicide. I loved the chemistry between the two central characters and thought the sex scenes (VERY open door 😂😜) were super hot throughout and really gorgeously written.
I did find the characters’ arcs disappointing and flat - somehow their individual growth in order to find their way back to each other didn’t quite register or land believably. I also guess I struggled (though I am a voracious rom-com and romance reader and actually very rarely say this!) with the believability of the basic premise: there were just a few too many neat/tidy coincidences to the overall romance plot, and though I get the plot device of this very specific enemies-to-lovers bent, it was so on the nose (like…there’s enemies and there’s “was driving the car when your teenage sister, who had no access to mental health support, jumped in front of it and died by suicide”) that it felt sort of heavy-handed ultimately. As I said - lots that was interesting, and also not totally satisfying for me ultimately.
I did find the characters’ arcs disappointing and flat - somehow their individual growth in order to find their way back to each other didn’t quite register or land believably. I also guess I struggled (though I am a voracious rom-com and romance reader and actually very rarely say this!) with the believability of the basic premise: there were just a few too many neat/tidy coincidences to the overall romance plot, and though I get the plot device of this very specific enemies-to-lovers bent, it was so on the nose (like…there’s enemies and there’s “was driving the car when your teenage sister, who had no access to mental health support, jumped in front of it and died by suicide”) that it felt sort of heavy-handed ultimately. As I said - lots that was interesting, and also not totally satisfying for me ultimately.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Alcohol
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt