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mels_reading_log's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Moderate: Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Addiction, Sexual content, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Car accident, Sexual harassment, Violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Domestic abuse
khloereads86's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Confinement, and Physical abuse
Minor: Alcohol, Addiction, Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Car accident
sea_tea_books's review
3.0
Happily Ever After. Spicy scenes (eventually).
And now, the cons:
Such a slow burn; like, too slow. The pacing was odd. It felt like the story was riding at 20mph through a school zone for 90% with a few bumps along the way, then suddenly floored it to two spicy scenes at the very end. The result was a clunky story that abruptly ended just as the story picked up steam. Was this why the author included not only an epilogue but also bonus content at the end, to compensate for the abrupt ending?
This book should come with trigger warnings due to themes of childhood trauma, parental alcoholism, and domestic violence within toxic families in both main character backstories.
Not a fan of the main character Vanessa continuously threatening violence against others. And the other main character Aiden being emotionally dysregulated on a daily basis. Let's not normalize these issues by excusing rage and threats as unavoidable consequences of her upbringing, or accepting rudeness and apathy as the norm because he's just a grumpy guy.
Finally, a small pet peeve (pun intended) of mine is when people claim being a pet owner is the same as or similar to being the parent of a human being. In the About the Author section, Mariana Zapata calls her dogs "her...oversized children" and she wrote "child" when referring to the dog Leo in the story. We'll have to agree to disagree on that one, Mariana.
Graphic: Violence, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Abandonment
milovatsi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Don't leave your 8 wk old puppy alone!
Moderate: Child abuse and Alcoholism
Minor: Animal cruelty
Never reading this author again!frantically's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Was this book particularly good? No, not really. Was it absolutely addicting to listen to? Yes. Spent two days doing nothing else.
I love Aiden. What. A. Man. The quiet way he shows Van he loves her ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ the way he stands up for her ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ really had me sobbing ngl
Can't stand Van. She was so fun at first but then it just turned really pick-me and if there's one thing I HATE it's pick-me's.
Still, the relationship was so cute! Yes it was technically very slow burn but we all knew they were gonna end up together in the end and it made all the pre-relationship situations so much cuter for me.
Some other stuff I had issues with:
– Van's family gives major Cinderella vibes but not retelling vibes, Cinderella vibes straight out of the fairytale. Completely two-dimensional. Oh and why are they assholes? Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, of course
– Aiden is groped/sexually harassed in front of Van and she laughs about it for like ten minutes. Ew.
– Van gets into sports! Theoretically fun but she only does it after Aiden's manager says she's fat. And there's so much focus on her losing weight, it became a bit uncomfortable
So – why did I even like this? I don't know. I like Aiden. I like puppies. I like "I loved you from the start". The writing is good.
Will read more Zapata books, trying to find a book as great as Lukov was xoxo
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Car accident
juliaaaaaa's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Gaslighting, Car accident, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Injury/Injury detail
lkahre's review
- 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
4.0
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, Drug use, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Child abuse, Car accident, Addiction, and Alcohol
swalsmeyer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse
clementine789's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
That paired with the INCREDIBLY slow burn and repetitive writing was driving me crazy, but I kept coming back to these characters and had to see it through. They had some great development and adorable scenes; I’d definitely read another one of the author’s novels this year.
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Car accident, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
emmariana97's review against another edition
vanessa: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. i counted instead of punching his stupid god awful sexy face. his huge face set on behemoth square shoulders large enough to send people flying, his rippling ham thighs with huge gigantic ginormous colossal humongous muscles i didn't even know existed. i felt like such a huge asshole for not smiling back at him, even though he'd called me an annoying nag. he kept walking with his thunderous steps shaking the literal foundations of the building, his leviathan pectorals bouncing largely and hugely
TIMES I NEARLY DNF'D THIS
-the canadians in this keep using "eh" instead of "yes". has this author ever met a canadian
-mc dresses up as a minion and goku for halloween because she hates when women dress slutty. she also yells at aidan for not knowing anime. mariana zapata i need you to be so serious with me rn
Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Alcoholism