Scan barcode
nebraskanwriter's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
My goodness. This book was such a rollercoaster. As a paralegal for a small defense firm and having a family that is pretty self-destructive like Vanessa’s family is, I could relate to this book in so many ways.
The book started out so well. We see Adrian at his law firm, Vanessa navigating the minefields of her toxic family as well as beginning to take care of baby Grace that her 19 year old drug addicted sister just dropped on her door-step.
But around the 60% mark, things started to fall apart for me. You see, Vanessa from the beginning has made it very clear to Adrian that she has no intention of dating anyone because her family carries the ALS gene so she thinks she’s going to die by the time she is 30 because that is when her sister died from ALS. But then she gets all hurt when she kisses him (while intoxicated) and he doesn’t kiss her back. After this awkward situation, Adrian wants to talk to her about it (like any adult would), but when the next day comes and she agrees to talk it him about it but instead she blindsides Adrian into watching Grace for 4-5 hours while she goes off with some guy Adrian has never met before while they go film content for their YouTube channels. She completley disregards his feelings and even though she promised they would
talk, she refuses to address the situation because she’s “hurt” even though SHE IS THE ONE THAT SET THESE BOUNDARIES AND TOLD HIM SHE WOULD NEVER DATE ANY ONE BECAUSE SHE IS AFRAID OF DYING. Like how dense can a person be? Geez Louise. And when Adrian explains this to her and tells her he was just doing what she had said from the get-go, she gets even more mad and projects all over him.
I liked the rep of the ALS subplot story-line as I feel like that illness is one that is not talked about, especially in romance novels. But Vanessa’s crippling doom that she is going to die by the time she is 30 because she MIGHT have this disease kind of drove me crazy. Especially since she refuses to do anything about it, including getting an actual diagnoses from an actual doctor. Her wrist/hand is tingling/ losing feeling so this sends her into a spiral. When Adrian finds out that its hereditary and that she could have the gene, he encourages her to find other ways to possibly live longer but she refuses, yells at him and then hangs up on him, promptly ending their relationship. She then goes off gallivanting for a few months in Europe, trying to find herself, and Adrian has been taking care of Grace this whole time in the states and is actually going through the process of adopting her.
The author tries to paint Vanessa as the one sibling who has their life together and who is not toxic but honestly, she TOTALLY is. She emotionally manipulates Adrian literally all the time. The moment something doesn’t go her way or he disagrees with her/does something she doesn’t want him to do, she freaks out. She also drops Grace like a sack of potatoes (much like her 19 year old sister did that she’s “so much better then”) and Adrian is the one who steps in to take care of Grace.
The whole second half of the book was just absolutely ridiculous. I understand that you would have a lot of emotional baggage with all that these two characters have gone through but my gosh, the way Vanessa treated Adrian was not okay at all nor was it romantic in any way. It was not a healthy relationship, she just used him because he was grounded and an attorney so he could help her with literally all of her family’s criminal drama and as a built in babysitter for Grace.
Not cool, very disappointed in this book.
The book started out so well. We see Adrian at his law firm, Vanessa navigating the minefields of her toxic family as well as beginning to take care of baby Grace that her 19 year old drug addicted sister just dropped on her door-step.
But around the 60% mark, things started to fall apart for me. You see, Vanessa from the beginning has made it very clear to Adrian that she has no intention of dating anyone because her family carries the ALS gene so she thinks she’s going to die by the time she is 30 because that is when her sister died from ALS. But then she gets all hurt when she kisses him (while intoxicated) and he doesn’t kiss her back. After this awkward situation, Adrian wants to talk to her about it (like any adult would), but when the next day comes and she agrees to talk it him about it but instead she blindsides Adrian into watching Grace for 4-5 hours while she goes off with some guy Adrian has never met before while they go film content for their YouTube channels. She completley disregards his feelings and even though she promised they would
talk, she refuses to address the situation because she’s “hurt” even though SHE IS THE ONE THAT SET THESE BOUNDARIES AND TOLD HIM SHE WOULD NEVER DATE ANY ONE BECAUSE SHE IS AFRAID OF DYING. Like how dense can a person be? Geez Louise. And when Adrian explains this to her and tells her he was just doing what she had said from the get-go, she gets even more mad and projects all over him.
I liked the rep of the ALS subplot story-line as I feel like that illness is one that is not talked about, especially in romance novels. But Vanessa’s crippling doom that she is going to die by the time she is 30 because she MIGHT have this disease kind of drove me crazy. Especially since she refuses to do anything about it, including getting an actual diagnoses from an actual doctor. Her wrist/hand is tingling/ losing feeling so this sends her into a spiral. When Adrian finds out that its hereditary and that she could have the gene, he encourages her to find other ways to possibly live longer but she refuses, yells at him and then hangs up on him, promptly ending their relationship. She then goes off gallivanting for a few months in Europe, trying to find herself, and Adrian has been taking care of Grace this whole time in the states and is actually going through the process of adopting her.
The author tries to paint Vanessa as the one sibling who has their life together and who is not toxic but honestly, she TOTALLY is. She emotionally manipulates Adrian literally all the time. The moment something doesn’t go her way or he disagrees with her/does something she doesn’t want him to do, she freaks out. She also drops Grace like a sack of potatoes (much like her 19 year old sister did that she’s “so much better then”) and Adrian is the one who steps in to take care of Grace.
The whole second half of the book was just absolutely ridiculous. I understand that you would have a lot of emotional baggage with all that these two characters have gone through but my gosh, the way Vanessa treated Adrian was not okay at all nor was it romantic in any way. It was not a healthy relationship, she just used him because he was grounded and an attorney so he could help her with literally all of her family’s criminal drama and as a built in babysitter for Grace.
Not cool, very disappointed in this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Medical content, Sexual content, and Terminal illness
emily_clay's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
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
Graphic: Terminal illness, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Medical content, Grief, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Drug abuse, Dementia, and Abandonment
Minor: Stalking and Car accident
sami_leigh's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
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
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/4
🌅 Dual POV
🌅 Forced proximity
🌅 Strangers-to-friends-to-lovers
🌅 Opposites attract; Travel blogger & lawyer
🌅 FMC fostering niece
🌅 ALS representation
🌅 Growth in MCs; family trauma to overcome & boundary setting
🌅 Epilogue
⚠️ Terminal illness, mental illness, hoarding, moderate medical content/trauma, abandonment, fostered baby.
🌅 Dual POV
🌅 Forced proximity
🌅 Strangers-to-friends-to-lovers
🌅 Opposites attract; Travel blogger & lawyer
🌅 FMC fostering niece
🌅 ALS representation
🌅 Growth in MCs; family trauma to overcome & boundary setting
🌅 Epilogue
⚠️ Terminal illness, mental illness, hoarding, moderate medical content/trauma, abandonment, fostered baby.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness
Moderate: Medical content, Abandonment, Sexual content, and Mental illness
samchase112's review against another edition
fast-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
3.0
This romance was fine, and I really don't know why I'm not giving it a higher rating. I think it was just because I'm so frustrated by the ending? And by some of Vanessa's choices? Anyway, I don't have much to say about this except that it is a unique romance story with lots of important topics, and I"m sure any fan of romance would enjoy!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical content, Terminal illness, Drug use, and Alcoholism
Minor: Sexual content
carisamarie'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness and Drug abuse
Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, and Medical content
lisacanteven's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-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 have been wanting a book to emotionally destroy me for weeks. I haven’t found one. Today was not a good day for emotional destruction, but here we are. This book beat my anti-depressant and made me shed some tears.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Death
100_pages_hr's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
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 series has been amazing and I really loved this book.
I'm not real big on social media so I'll admit to being a little nervous at first reading about a YouTuber, but the more I learned about Vanessa the more I loved her platform. I really love books that bring awareness to conditions and Jimenez is one of the best at this.
I loved baby whisperer Adrian! At times he came across a little too good to be true, but then Jimenez would throw something in to humanize him.
For me this was a fast read, but it was a slow burn romance for sure. The build up was pretty intense and I loved it.
It was also fun to revisit old friends. After reading this I have a very strong urge to re-read the first two and then this one again.
I love how Jimenez builds her characters. I especially love how the Kirsten and Vanessa have NO filter. It makes for a super fun story!
I hope to see many more books from Jimenez in the future!!!
I'm not real big on social media so I'll admit to being a little nervous at first reading about a YouTuber, but the more I learned about Vanessa the more I loved her platform. I really love books that bring awareness to conditions and Jimenez is one of the best at this.
I loved baby whisperer Adrian! At times he came across a little too good to be true, but then Jimenez would throw something in to humanize him.
For me this was a fast read, but it was a slow burn romance for sure. The build up was pretty intense and I loved it.
It was also fun to revisit old friends. After reading this I have a very strong urge to re-read the first two and then this one again.
I love how Jimenez builds her characters. I especially love how the Kirsten and Vanessa have NO filter. It makes for a super fun story!
I hope to see many more books from Jimenez in the future!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Torture, and Drug use
Moderate: Dementia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
Minor: Car accident, Death of parent, Infidelity, Medical content, and Mental illness
bookandabrew's review against another edition
This book should come with some trigger warnings. 50 pages in and there is discussions around ALS (motor neurone) with the main character and from what I can tell this continues throughout the book.
Also other big issues such as alcohol abuse and addiction.
Also other big issues such as alcohol abuse and addiction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Terminal illness, and Medical content
More...