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knitdyeread's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Grief
apollo0325's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Sapphics really do fall in love quickly, huh?
It was an easy read, and while I liked a lot of the elements such as the exploration of trauma and how trauma affects our relationships, I also felt like it didn’t do enough. We get told who Cass is, but we never get to SEE who Cass is. Despite her deceased status, I think we could have done some small flashbacks especially with the letter from Cass at the end. It contextualizes the relationships between Cass, Miriam, Hannah, Levi, and Noelle and it makes the reader understand the emotional toil Cass’s loss has put on the main characters as well as the community. It feels like the book forces you to rely on how it might feel to lose a loved one, and if the reader like me has not experienced that, the emotional punches of this novel become weak.
I also hated the epilogue lmao it’s so obvious that they planned sequels to this because of the epilogue.
It was an easy read, and while I liked a lot of the elements such as the exploration of trauma and how trauma affects our relationships, I also felt like it didn’t do enough. We get told who Cass is, but we never get to SEE who Cass is. Despite her deceased status, I think we could have done some small flashbacks especially with the letter from Cass at the end. It contextualizes the relationships between Cass, Miriam, Hannah, Levi, and Noelle and it makes the reader understand the emotional toil Cass’s loss has put on the main characters as well as the community. It feels like the book forces you to rely on how it might feel to lose a loved one, and if the reader like me has not experienced that, the emotional punches of this novel become weak.
I also hated the epilogue lmao it’s so obvious that they planned sequels to this because of the epilogue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Grief
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, and Addiction
therainbowshelf's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Two women brought together by grief become instant enemies & hate-work together to save the tree farm their departed loved one left behind. A charming fall/winter enemies to lovers holiday romance. I enjoyed the characters and how they worked through their respective trauma. I wish the dad had been a character and not just a boogie man, and that we got more of the tree farm flavor than the small glimpse.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Child abuse, Grief, Death, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Alcoholism
Toxic parent, narcissistkenz_m's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Death, and Child abuse
lady_valhella's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Miriam is a mess, Noel is a toxic. Both have scars from their pasts but Noel is so high up on that horse that she seems to think only her past trauma is legit and all other past traumas can be managed if you just try harder. Tara is the only worth while character in this whole scenario and Miriam does her dirty more than once and Tara has the grace to forgive this woman.
That is just my issue with main stream character and the love triangle.
That is just my issue with main stream character and the love triangle.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Death, Body shaming, Bullying, and Cultural appropriation
There are so many other things I disliked about the story and the writing. I just can’t for the life of me understand why Miriam and Noel are into each other and recognize that even with therapy they are bad news for each other. Noel is emotionally abusive IMO. And I am all for WLW but Miriam should have ended up with Cole, especially since Cole and Hannah were never shipped, total missed opportunity there. I am not Bi and cannot speak to what that feels like but I am clutching my pearls at the fact that Miriam is supposedly bi but is only into women unless Timothy Oliphant showed up at her door. I mean Cole is all the things she needs in a partner and I am upset that I have to read a queer book and advocate for the hetro style ship here. Why Tara was ever slightly interested in Miriam is beyond me. And I have never in all my years of reading ever heard an author describe a character as Fat unless, MAYBE, they were describing an undesirable character.sarahthescrivnr's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Child abuse
Minor: Alcoholism and Death of parent
betweentheshelves's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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? Yes
3.5
My final holiday read of 2023! This was sort of a Jewish-Christmas mash-up, as a lot of the characters are Jewish but they are trying to save Carrigan's Christmasland. The premise was fun, the characters were pretty well rounded for the most part, and it had some excellent holiday vibes.
I do think the book itself was slightly longer than it needed to be. Part of that was because of how much time takes place, I think. It just felt a little drawn out. But I did enjoy the romance! It felt realistic to me.
If you do pick this up, be warned there are some pretty heavy themes of grief and dealing with past traumas from abuse. It's still a rom-com, but definitely with some heavier themes.
I do think the book itself was slightly longer than it needed to be. Part of that was because of how much time takes place, I think. It just felt a little drawn out. But I did enjoy the romance! It felt realistic to me.
If you do pick this up, be warned there are some pretty heavy themes of grief and dealing with past traumas from abuse. It's still a rom-com, but definitely with some heavier themes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Alcoholism, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Death, Child abuse, and Death of parent
Minor: Antisemitism and Sexual content
softstuff513's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The readers voices annoyed me, and the main character annoyed me. I did like how Jewish it was. You don’t see that often. And cass reminded me of my great aunt…. Also ended on a really random cliffhanger? (Not a spoiler because the cliffhanger is unrelated to the rest of the story) Is there supposed to be a sequel? The pacing was really weird… felt like it rushed through some parts, and characters kept popping up it was hard to track if they were there the whole time or are flying in and out of state…???
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Bullying, Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Grief
eemcnall's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Death
warlocksarecool21's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Overall, I liked what this book was trying to do, but I don’t think it was executed that well. The strongest part for me was Miriam’s starting to heal from her trauma and the idea of a family coming together in their grief to save something they love. I appreciated seeing the complexities of their family dynamic and also the celebration of Jewish culture and traditions. The characters were strong, I liked Miriam and a lot of the side characters but I struggled a lot with Noelle. My main issue was that I felt that neither Noelle or Miriam were ready for a relationship. They had a lot of shit to work through and both need to go to therapy before getting together. (I know at the end they planned to go to therapy but it kind of felt like their love fixed everything instead of actually working through their issues). I appreciated the attempt of the story’s message that even if you experience trauma that you still can hurt people and need to be held accountable but how it went about that was really frustrating to me. I thought Noelle was really hard on Miriam (and projected a lot of insecurities on her) and that it wasn’t her place to get involved with Miriam’s relationship with her family. Their relationship was really frustrating to me in that aspect. I kind of didn’t like Noelle for a lot of the book bc of how she made her flaws and insecurities other people’s problems and it made me uncomfortable due to similarities to someone close to me that I won’t delve into here. I think there was a way to healthily incorporate a relationship into this book but what we got caused a lot of unnecessary angst and frustration for me. The ending for Miriam and Noelle was sweet but I wasn’t entirely sold on their relationship. That aspect of the book wasn’t for me but maybe others will like the messiness of it. I also struggled with the pacing and length as well. The beginning took so long to set up and by the end of the second part I was ready for it to be over.
Definitely read for the exploration of trauma, grief and healing but the relationship isn’t stereotypically fluffy like you’d expect. I might pick up any sequels if they follow the other characters because some of them were really interesting and hopefully I’ll like them more.
Definitely read for the exploration of trauma, grief and healing but the relationship isn’t stereotypically fluffy like you’d expect. I might pick up any sequels if they follow the other characters because some of them were really interesting and hopefully I’ll like them more.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Addiction, Chronic illness, Grief, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Death
Minor: Cursing, Sexual content, Abandonment, and Death of parent