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a_l_reads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, and Terminal illness
Minor: Vomit and Eating disorder
kathleenmcg'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Homophobia
Minor: Eating disorder
kathleenmcg's review against another edition
emotional
funny
tense
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Minor: Toxic relationship
a_gbsn's review against another edition
challenging
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I enjoyed listening to the audiobook. I finished it pretty quickly and found myself curious for the next chapter each time. Some of the writing was a bit cringy, and I think the two characters were toxic to each other at times. Overall I did enjoy it and will probably read the sequel!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia and Alcoholism
Minor: Toxic relationship
diana_raquel'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
3.5
"I think it’s usually better to face the world as it is. The more we try to hide from something, the more power we give it."
I didn't know what to expect from this book. Looking at the synopsis it looked like something that I would like, but then, I started seeing this book recommended more and more, and I got suspicions. Every time a book that I'm interested in gets some hype, I become suspicious because hyped books are always 50/50 to me.
But I really like it! It's cute. I certainly have read better romance books, but this one was close to being a solid 4-star read. It just fell a little short, but that's definitely a "me thing" rather than a "book thing". My guess is, because I didn't understand some references to British culture, I was out of the loop and didn't understand the setting of some situations. And that affected my reading experience.
However, what absolutely won me in this book was the character development. To be honest I didn't like Luc at first. I thought that at some times he has whiny and unreasonable, without having a real reason to be it, but, for some reason, I kept rooting for him and Oliver. And, with time, I started to like its development of Luc.
Furthermore, another positive point is that this book was able to surprise me since some plot twists were completely unexpected.
Overall, I quite liked this book. It's a cute romance story that I recommend. I can't wait for the sequel.
I didn't know what to expect from this book. Looking at the synopsis it looked like something that I would like, but then, I started seeing this book recommended more and more, and I got suspicions. Every time a book that I'm interested in gets some hype, I become suspicious because hyped books are always 50/50 to me.
But I really like it! It's cute. I certainly have read better romance books, but this one was close to being a solid 4-star read. It just fell a little short, but that's definitely a "me thing" rather than a "book thing". My guess is, because I didn't understand some references to British culture, I was out of the loop and didn't understand the setting of some situations. And that affected my reading experience.
However, what absolutely won me in this book was the character development. To be honest I didn't like Luc at first. I thought that at some times he has whiny and unreasonable, without having a real reason to be it, but, for some reason, I kept rooting for him and Oliver. And, with time, I started to like its development of Luc.
Furthermore, another positive point is that this book was able to surprise me since some plot twists were completely unexpected.
Overall, I quite liked this book. It's a cute romance story that I recommend. I can't wait for the sequel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Drug use, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, and Sexual content
Minor: Cancer and Classism
buttermellow's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Homophobia, Abandonment, Body shaming, and Toxic relationship
taelights's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I had previously dnf this book but I decided to go back and give it another chance seeing as the audiobook was available through the library and I wanted to listen to something lgbt+ because I had mostly been listening to thrillers a lot recently. While I started off enjoying it more this time by the end I found myself wishing i hadn't given the book a second chance.
First of all the book dragged. It was so long and for what? Plus there is apparently a sequel too? Unnecessary in my opinion and I definitely won't be reading it.
While I did find some of the jokes funny I felt most of them fell flat and the author was trying too hard to be funny. I felt like I was reading a "crack" fic that was trying too hard rather than an actua published book. Plus some of the "jokes" were a bit of problematic - including rape/sexual assult ones, biphobic ones, etc. Plus I thought the book did play into some harmful stereotypes of both lesbians and bi/pan people. And as a vegetarian I did not like the way vegetarian and vegans were portrayed in this book and it felt like the author really likes forcing vegetarians to eat meat which is gross of them.
The negatives:
1) Both of the main characters need some major therapy; both individual and couples. Yet after after a whole book dealing with their flaws and trauma and incompatibility and trust issues these things just seem to go away at the end in an unsatisfying way. I hate the whole "love will fix all your problems" thing. Like damn I hope these two characters went to therapy next book but I doubt it lol.
2) While Oliver and Luc had chemistry at the beginning of the book I thought they lost all their chemistry. I was no longer believing in their relationship and routing for them towards the end. Plus THREE breakups in one book is a bit extreme. By the third I kind of didn't even want them to get back together.
3) I thought the side lesbian relationship was problematic like they play into both the lesbian age difference trope and while I personally love age gaps in general it's annoying when it's like 90% of lesbian media. Also it played into the whole gross lesbian married to man and cheats on him with a woman trope. Also the lesbian friend felt like the angry lesbian trope.
4) I also felt that there was harmful bi/pan stereotypes in this. Like having one of Luc's ex boyfriends being a bi man who leaves a gay man for a straight woman.... It kind of plays into the harmful belief that bi people will always leave their same sex partners for a straight relationship.
5) The characters were all extremely one dimensional. The side characters especially but so were Luc and Oliver honestly.
6) As a vegetarian I was extremely disappointed in how the author handled a vegetarian character. Between making the vegetarian character eat meat not once but twice, the love interest who convinced him to eat meat basically commenting that it's sexy he's going against his morals and eating meat, characters acting like being vegetarian is so strange and different and such an inconvenience, and being like yeah he's obviously only vegetarian because he has an eating disorder. Honestly I between the jokes about vegans/vegetarians and the whole forcing one to eat meat just made me so uncomfortable and I honestly believe this author has something against people who don't eat meat which is weird of them.
7) The whole reason for the fake dating plot line didn't make sense in the first place.
8) The whole plotline with Luc's dad didn't make sense and didn't have a satisfying conclusion at all and just made the whole element of the book seem needless.
I could go on. I just really did not like this book by the end.
First of all the book dragged. It was so long and for what? Plus there is apparently a sequel too? Unnecessary in my opinion and I definitely won't be reading it.
While I did find some of the jokes funny I felt most of them fell flat and the author was trying too hard to be funny. I felt like I was reading a "crack" fic that was trying too hard rather than an actua published book. Plus some of the "jokes" were a bit of problematic - including rape/sexual assult ones, biphobic ones, etc. Plus I thought the book did play into some harmful stereotypes of both lesbians and bi/pan people. And as a vegetarian I did not like the way vegetarian and vegans were portrayed in this book and it felt like the author really likes forcing vegetarians to eat meat which is gross of them.
The negatives:
1) Both of the main characters need some major therapy; both individual and couples. Yet after after a whole book dealing with their flaws and trauma and incompatibility and trust issues these things just seem to go away at the end in an unsatisfying way. I hate the whole "love will fix all your problems" thing. Like damn I hope these two characters went to therapy next book but I doubt it lol.
2) While Oliver and Luc had chemistry at the beginning of the book I thought they lost all their chemistry. I was no longer believing in their relationship and routing for them towards the end. Plus THREE breakups in one book is a bit extreme. By the third I kind of didn't even want them to get back together.
3) I thought the side lesbian relationship was problematic like they play into both the lesbian age difference trope and while I personally love age gaps in general it's annoying when it's like 90% of lesbian media. Also it played into the whole gross lesbian married to man and cheats on him with a woman trope. Also the lesbian friend felt like the angry lesbian trope.
4) I also felt that there was harmful bi/pan stereotypes in this. Like having one of Luc's ex boyfriends being a bi man who leaves a gay man for a straight woman.... It kind of plays into the harmful belief that bi people will always leave their same sex partners for a straight relationship.
5) The characters were all extremely one dimensional. The side characters especially but so were Luc and Oliver honestly.
6) As a vegetarian I was extremely disappointed in how the author handled a vegetarian character. Between making the vegetarian character eat meat not once but twice, the love interest who convinced him to eat meat basically commenting that it's sexy he's going against his morals and eating meat, characters acting like being vegetarian is so strange and different and such an inconvenience, and being like yeah he's obviously only vegetarian because he has an eating disorder. Honestly I between the jokes about vegans/vegetarians and the whole forcing one to eat meat just made me so uncomfortable and I honestly believe this author has something against people who don't eat meat which is weird of them.
7) The whole reason for the fake dating plot line didn't make sense in the first place.
8) The whole plotline with Luc's dad didn't make sense and didn't have a satisfying conclusion at all and just made the whole element of the book seem needless.
I could go on. I just really did not like this book by the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Cursing, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Homophobia, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Cancer, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Outing, and Sexual assault
Biphobiawritewithapendragon's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Homophobia, Classism, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Classism, Drug use, Eating disorder, and Sexual content
drraytay's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, and Homophobia
gattolinos_nerdy_nook's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This book whilst a fun and enjoyable read, did lose me with some of the character interactions and plot points. Nothing that will stop me from picking up the sequel but enough to pull me out of the book every now and then.
Most of my displeasure came from the characters and the number of character interactions that just felt unnecessarily mean especially among friends. Some characters are written to not be liked, but I think the friends weren't meant to be like that. The other issue is the conflicts in this book seem to almost be the same issue repeating over again. It takes away from the character development in the book, which I think it really well done and touches on some interesting points about relationships that I haven't often seen in other romance books I've read.
I am interested in the sequel when it comes out, as I'm interested to see where these characters go and if the conflicts they face will be similar or different. I have some ideas that I would love to see in the next book, so I'll have to wait and see if they come true.
Most of my displeasure came from the characters and the number of character interactions that just felt unnecessarily mean especially among friends. Some characters are written to not be liked, but I think the friends weren't meant to be like that. The other issue is the conflicts in this book seem to almost be the same issue repeating over again. It takes away from the character development in the book, which I think it really well done and touches on some interesting points about relationships that I haven't often seen in other romance books I've read.
I am interested in the sequel when it comes out, as I'm interested to see where these characters go and if the conflicts they face will be similar or different. I have some ideas that I would love to see in the next book, so I'll have to wait and see if they come true.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Toxic relationship