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bookedbymadeline's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
I was pulled in right away and flew through this book! I love Henry’s writing style and characters, with this being the second book I’ve read from her she’s firmly put herself on my auto buy author list!
I absolutely adored the Michigan references!! I also loved the subtle nod to a Hope College staple but I will be gatekeeping it 😂 I enjoyed the banter and the slow burn for the romance.
I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much reading a romance book
Also I wouldn’t classify this as having a third act breakup which made me so happy! Without getting too spoiler-y, for me a third act break up means the characters separate for 1 week or more and this wasn’t the case.
A beautiful novel about love, loss, grief, and new beginnings. I adored everything about this book; the characters are well written and had great developments along the way, the writing held my attention, the chemistry was amazing, well written dialogue to make you feel all the emotions, and the setting was so clearly written that I felt nostalgic for my home state where I’ve spent many childhoods at Lake Michigan 💙
My one very minor “negative” is the ending. I liked it well enough (I read the US edition for reference) but after finding out what the UK ending is, I would’ve preferred that one. It was a good ending but the UK ending makes more sense for Gus and January!
My one very minor “negative” is the ending. I liked it well enough (I read the US edition for reference) but after finding out what the UK ending is, I would’ve preferred that one. It was a good ending but the UK ending makes more sense for Gus and January!
I have so many favorites for this month which is amazing but will be a challenge for picking my top pick at the end of July 🙈
Spice level: 🌶️ (1.5/3)
Tropes: rivals to lovers, forced proximity
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Alcohol, Death of parent, Infidelity, Grief, and Sexual content
Moderate: Child abuse and Domestic abuse
Minor: Murder, Child death, and Fire/Fire injury
angelsfw's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Cancer, Death, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Medical content, Child abuse, and Alcohol
Minor: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Car accident
ktv's review against another edition
funny
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
4.5
I loved Julia Whelan as the narrator for this. She rly bought to life all of the characters. Her voice is also nice.
I liked the slow burn aspect and how the book centered around January and Gus’s problems. I thought it would be more grumpy x sunshine but I ended up liking it the way it was. I liked the second chance thing too.
-0.5 stars because the spicy scenes were significantly different than the ones in take a hint, Dani brown and it threw me off. Definitely a me problem, not an Emily Henry problem! The order u read books in matters, and I shoulda taken that into account before diving into this.
I liked the slow burn aspect and how the book centered around January and Gus’s problems. I thought it would be more grumpy x sunshine but I ended up liking it the way it was. I liked the second chance thing too.
-0.5 stars because the spicy scenes were significantly different than the ones in take a hint, Dani brown and it threw me off. Definitely a me problem, not an Emily Henry problem! The order u read books in matters, and I shoulda taken that into account before diving into this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Sexual content, Cancer, and Infidelity
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Child death, Alcohol, and Cursing
Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism
allidone's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
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: Alcohol, Infidelity, and Grief
Minor: Murder, Child abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, and Child death
filipa_maia's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
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
4.0
This book was really good. And I say it like that because, once again, this is not my go-to genre. But, once again, was a suggestion from my monthly reading group and I decided to give it a chance.
This is not a typical romance in a sense that are some really dark and heavy topics represented: domestic abuse, a cult, death... the kind of themes that are not associated when you ear the genre romance.
I really enjoyed this book. I like how dark and mysterious Gus is and how fragile and hurt January feels. And I like the way both of them decide to give each other a chance (although, sometimes, January frustrated me a lot). The best part about this book is that it shows that two people with completely opposite visions of the world can find common ground.
I really liked this book and will look for more books by Emily Henry.
This is not a typical romance in a sense that are some really dark and heavy topics represented: domestic abuse, a cult, death... the kind of themes that are not associated when you ear the genre romance.
I really enjoyed this book. I like how dark and mysterious Gus is and how fragile and hurt January feels. And I like the way both of them decide to give each other a chance (although, sometimes, January frustrated me a lot). The best part about this book is that it shows that two people with completely opposite visions of the world can find common ground.
I really liked this book and will look for more books by Emily Henry.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Abandonment, Grief, Chronic illness, Infidelity, and Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Vomit, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Car accident, Alcohol, and Cursing
hapalyn's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Grief
Moderate: Vomit and Cancer
Minor: Toxic relationship, Child death, Alcohol, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
marylinaris's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
It’s easy to like this book, the writing is beautiful, January is an interesting protagonist, Gus plays his part as the love interest very well and the story stays interesting and emotional throughout!
What I’m a little ehh about was Gus’ backstory. January’s backstory is quite heavy on it’s own - slightly too heavy for a book I’ve been frequently been told was a fun romp-y vacation romance - but his backstory? Yeah, that one came very much unexpected and I wasn’t really a fan of the pay off that plot gave us. I probably would’ve liked that part more if Augustus had POV chapters and we wouldn’t have gotten the whole thing solely through January’s eyes. Also … the sex scene that resulted out of exploring his backstory?? I was very hyperaware where they were doing it and for that alone it ranks high in the worst sex scenes I’ve ever read.
What his book did weirdly, for me, was the little amount of time it spend on the vacation/beach part, the title promises and I would’ve expected a lot more discussions about their respective genres or even shallow examination of the genre conventions.
I overall am - still - unsure about the ending. It felt very realistic and grounded in regards to the way the
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Grief, Sexual content, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Infidelity
Minor: Vomit
laney_501'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
5.0
SO SO SO SO SO GOOD ‼️‼️
Words can’t describe how much I loved this book. I loved the characters, I thought they were complicated and funny, and I rooted for them. I especially loved Gus … 10/10 would recommend it was incredible.
Words can’t describe how much I loved this book. I loved the characters, I thought they were complicated and funny, and I rooted for them. I especially loved Gus … 10/10 would recommend it was incredible.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Child abuse and Domestic abuse
Minor: Child death
gabbygarcia's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Fun book! The audiobook narration is great, highly recommend it. My largest complaint with the structure of the story is that there seemed to be both too much and not enough of the plot line outside of the romance—I wanted to care more about the book-research plot line but there just wasn’t enough of it to keep me interested; it didn’t feel connected enough to the rest of the story for its placement to make sense. There were definitely more than a few lines that had me rolling my eyes, but overall, the dialogue was funny and captivating. Fun summer read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer and Infidelity
Minor: Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Child death
hayleygray's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
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
4.75
Emily Henry is an incredible romance novelist and I have loved each book that I have read and already can't wait to start reading another one of her novels. Without fail, her characters are incredibly written and it is so easy to fall in love alongside them (also the sexual chemistry and content is worth the unbelievable tension throughout the book!) This was a story about family, as well as romantic love, and how to forgive others and yourself for past decisions and re-learn what it means to truly love someone else. The whole book was raw, powerful, heart-warming, funny, and emotional and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it – it also only took me a few days to get through it as I was always itching to pick it back up and read more. It was one of those books that, once I had finished reading, I wished I could read for the first time all over again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual content, and Cancer
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Child abuse
Minor: Child death