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vj_thompson's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol and Grief
Minor: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury
bzliz's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I like Aunt Vivi’s witchy vibes and the little glimpse at her weird book club. Gemma wasn’t my ideal MC. Her choice felt pretty obvious to me. It was interesting that the misguided spell
There is some spice in the book but it wasn’t my favorite. It felt weirdly clinical and then I felt even worse when I saw the author calling out her husband in the acknowledgments for his inspiring genitalia. The steam leading up to the spice was better and I felt the tension building up between them. I wish it had been left at that or that the author had a better editor for those scenes.
Graphic: Alcohol and Sexual content
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Blood
mari1532's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I have started this book review several times and honestly, I think I had such a hard time writing this review because I was truly ambivalent about this book. I didn’t hate the book and I thought that Robb’s writing style was excellent and funny. However, I didn’t like Gemma (as a person, she was well-written) or Dax (I think this was more a lack of understanding of who he was in both timelines).
Also, in terms of the time travel. Is Aunt Livi a witch? Is her book club a coven? Why were there so many clues that indicated this, but were never picked up again?
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Grief, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, and Sexual content
dianaschmidty's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
(Warning: the following contains light spoilers because I couldn’t do my review justice without specific examples)
I think the first thing that really went wrong is about Gemma’s personality. I tend to like when my main characters are a little annoying because I usually find that both endearing and realistic. Gemma, however, is annoying because she’s both judgy and hypocritical. I will preface this by saying that she admits to be self-centered by the end of the book and does go through character growth, but there were certain moments that I couldn’t get over. The most glaring moment was when she practically fat-shamed Dougie during the roof scene. It was a few off-hand comments that made me really uncomfortable and made me think differently about both the author and the book as a whole. Besides that insensitivity, Gemma was also very insensitive about Other World Dax’s career choices. She made a big stink about him not being able to drop everything and go to Toronto with her. A lot of times in the book, she seemed for forget that that Dax hadn’t known her for the past four years, and I think this was the most glaring example. There were a few other moments that had me shouting “GIRL, SERIOUSLY, YOU CAN’T SAY THAT!”
The other major thing I didn’t love was the magic system. I love time travel/alternate reality movies and tv shows, so the fact that I was so confused does not bode well for this book. My most major question is: does the Other World still exist after she leaves?? Like, has she completely screwed over Other World Dax and Gemma?! Also, I kind of hate that she basically lost a month of her actual life. She should have woken up that morning, because otherwise I’m left with the question: what Gemma was living her life for that month? One other thing, why did Aunt Vivi seem to know everything in the Other World? That was not explained other than Kiersten’s comment at the end about her being magical.
I do still recommend this book for Dax and Gemma’s relationship alone, because they really seemed to be destined for each other. Just know that I really wish I could remove multiple of Gemma’s thoughts and words.
Thank you to NetGalley, Dial Press, and Kate Robb for providing me access to this book.
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Abandonment
kimveach's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Sexual content, Cursing, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
toofondofbooks_'s review
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Medical content
Minor: Car accident and Pandemic/Epidemic