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unsweetener's review against another edition
2.75
Anastasia is a rude figure skater. Nate is a large hockey player. As college jocks, they spend a good amount of time partying and hooking up. Anastasia is the type of girl who calls her closest guy friend with benefits (to be fair he is very nice) her best friend even though he disappears halfway through the book and she very clearly has an actual best friend. Also she's in an emotionally abusive non-romantic relationship with her skating partner, which is actually an interesting idea. Nate is rich hockey man wish fulfillment with Daddy issues that are thrown in so he isn't too perfect. This is enemies to lovers in the sense that Anastasia is super mean to Nate for ridiculous reasons until she can no longer resist his hotness, which to be fair is usually how this trope works.
The last time I read a book about college students, I decided I should not do that again, and those instincts were correct (for me). These people have weird, unconvincing baggage and occasionally concerning behaviors.
To be clear, there is a good amount of front loaded steamy content in this book. Do not be fooled by the cutesy cover. The characters' relationship is very physical and, toward the end, very affectionate, which is nice because I don't really see it in their personalities. Hot, boring party kids deserve love too; I maybe didn't need a whole novel about it. But I did read the book very quickly and somewhat enjoyed it, so joke's on me!
The last time I read a book about college students, I decided I should not do that again, and those instincts were correct (for me). These people have weird, unconvincing baggage and occasionally concerning behaviors.
To be clear, there is a good amount of front loaded steamy content in this book. Do not be fooled by the cutesy cover. The characters' relationship is very physical and, toward the end, very affectionate, which is nice because I don't really see it in their personalities. Hot, boring party kids deserve love too; I maybe didn't need a whole novel about it. But I did read the book very quickly and somewhat enjoyed it, so joke's on me!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Eating disorder and Emotional abuse
Minor: Pregnancy
sara33bear's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual content, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Pregnancy
wondahwoman's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
While I thoroughly enjoyed the romance between Anastasia and Nate, the main source of conflict throughout the story felt a bit forced to me.
Spoilers for the antagonist/conflict below:
Stassi’s skating partner, Aaron, is nothing short of emotionally abusive, and it seemed unrealistic to me that Stassi would forgive/excuse SO MANY of his actions. Even towards the end when she had become disillusioned by all of his manipulative behavior, she continued excusing awful things. I wish there’d been more development into why she was so deep under his spell after having only been his partner for two years.
I appreciate that the drama between the two love interests was very minimal (see also: no third act breakup!) but the conflict that was there made it hard to finish near the end. It was worth it for the romance, but I wish the antagonist had been more thought out.
Spoilers for the antagonist/conflict below:
I appreciate that the drama between the two love interests was very minimal (see also: no third act breakup!) but the conflict that was there made it hard to finish near the end. It was worth it for the romance, but I wish the antagonist had been more thought out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, and Gaslighting
Minor: Death of parent and Pregnancy
jreshsingh26's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Body shaming, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
cherry_05's review against another edition
It got so boring. Literally only smut
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Pregnancy
jaemeappel's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Death of parent
paigephillips'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual assault, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
jessicabearbooks's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
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? It's complicated
4.0
“I’d say she’s going to ruin all other women for me, but I don’t think about anyone but her. ”
If you love found family, and friendship groups you end up dying to be a part of, then this book is definitely for you. This book was the first time I'd properly experienced the found family trope and I can't describe the level of happiness it brought me! Especially JJ, that man has my absolute heart. These characters are not only hilarious (I'm talking eye wateringly funny) but stupidly romantic too? The sentences that came out of some of these boy's mouths, I was shocked (“Looking at her makes me want to be the funniest guy in the room, so I can be the one to make her laugh.” ...excuse me what do you mean?!) The characters are also mad fuckable but don't tell anyone.
This book has some serious spice (that taxi scene - GIRL.) which I wasn't fully prepared for going in but was definitely a fan. This did mean it took me longer to read though because I felt like I had to really be in the mood to appreciate certain chapters, and ended up not wanting to read them because I knew I had a spice scene coming up. I mean to some it up; “It’s not porn. It’s a romance book that happens to have a little bit of sex in it.”
Aaron is the worst in the world that boy needs to shut up. But apart from him this book is a dream.
If you love found family, and friendship groups you end up dying to be a part of, then this book is definitely for you. This book was the first time I'd properly experienced the found family trope and I can't describe the level of happiness it brought me! Especially JJ, that man has my absolute heart. These characters are not only hilarious (I'm talking eye wateringly funny) but stupidly romantic too? The sentences that came out of some of these boy's mouths, I was shocked (“Looking at her makes me want to be the funniest guy in the room, so I can be the one to make her laugh.” ...excuse me what do you mean?!) The characters are also mad fuckable but don't tell anyone.
This book has some serious spice (that taxi scene - GIRL.) which I wasn't fully prepared for going in but was definitely a fan. This did mean it took me longer to read though because I felt like I had to really be in the mood to appreciate certain chapters, and ended up not wanting to read them because I knew I had a spice scene coming up. I mean to some it up; “It’s not porn. It’s a romance book that happens to have a little bit of sex in it.”
Aaron is the worst in the world that boy needs to shut up. But apart from him this book is a dream.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual content, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy
a_ford1's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
moh_reads's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
It was fine. Writing was meh. Lots of telling, not showing. Characterization didn't feel consistent. FMC was unrealistically snotty towards the MMC in the beginning just for the sake of the author writing hate sex scenes. She was also hyper oblivious to the antagonist being abusive despite being her very therapeutized. First third dragged. I had to power through most of the book. There were some fourth wall breaking moments that really took me out of it.
Sex scenes were fine. FMC is able to orgasm just from penetration. The almost cartoony cover combined with how explicit some of the scenes were feels like a disaster waiting to happen (I'm just imagining a preteen picking this up at Target and paging though because it looks cute). Ending was super shifty consideringthey explicitly talked about her not wanting to get pregnant until she achieved some major career goals - felt like it really undermined how ambitious she was made out to be. Also getting pregnant after one time of throwing up the pill felt cheap.
Read only because a friend lent it to me and I felt obligated to finish it. Read the first 40 pages, put it down for about a month, then finished it in a laborious sitting. Extremely unlikely to read any of the author's other works.
Sex scenes were fine. FMC is able to orgasm just from penetration. The almost cartoony cover combined with how explicit some of the scenes were feels like a disaster waiting to happen (I'm just imagining a preteen picking this up at Target and paging though because it looks cute). Ending was super shifty considering
Read only because a friend lent it to me and I felt obligated to finish it. Read the first 40 pages, put it down for about a month, then finished it in a laborious sitting. Extremely unlikely to read any of the author's other works.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Vomit, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol