Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Codename Charming by Lucy Parker

4 reviews

kb33's review against another edition

lighthearted medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

This is sweet, a little steamy, and had some realness to the characters, who had to deal with some real life kind of garbage throughout the book. Petunia, “Pet,” and Mathias both work for the husband of a princess fourth in line for the throne, so there’s some light royal drama, too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Body shaming, and Death

Minor: Child abuse, Abandonment, Infidelity, Infertility, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Alcohol

venetiana's review against another edition

funny lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Reasonably cute? But so many smaller things that completely weirded me out (slightly ableist, ...). And the ending (epilogue) was honestly too much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Moderate: Sexism, Abandonment, Violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, and Stalking

Minor: Alcohol, Biphobia, Infidelity, Racism, Bullying, Classism, Drug use, Vomit, Ableism, Blood, Pregnancy, War, Xenophobia, and Alcoholism

wilybooklover's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

4.0

A very charming, sweet retelling of Beauty and the Beast, with a strong dash of grumpy x sunshine!  I loved that it was in a royal setting but focusing on the staff instead of the royals themselves. I really enjoy heroes who are very grumpy and awkward (but not ever mean or cruel) and secretly very soft and gentle inside. Matthias is exactly that kind of grump. Pet was, as Matthias calls her, a human sunbeam. Their connection was very emotional and resonant, based on a deep level of care for each other. I loved how even though they were fake dating, none of their interactions were ever really fake, but I do wish the fake dating had ended sooner and we got more scenes of Pet and Matthias together for real. 

As always with this author, I did struggle a bit with the odd smattering of Americanisms that popped up every now and then. It's very jarring and grating, especially when all of the other slang and phrasing was spot on. There was also maybe one too many side plots when balanced against the romance, and the sheer amount of coincidences/fate also became a bit much by the end for my tastes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Abandonment, Death, Murder, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Violence

Minor: Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Death of parent

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

funny hopeful 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Grief, Bullying, Infidelity, and Abandonment