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turnthepages_nl's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
I need more show and less tell.
Most of the character growth happens off page and that really saddens me. I like it when I see the emotional growth, thoughts, feelings and process on page. And this book skipped over those parts real fast. (Except for the lust, there were plenty of lusty, horny thoughts)
They also keep mentioning how small and little (in height) Rayah (the FMC) is and that got annoying reallll quick. Like, we get it, she is not as tall as the others.
I missed emotional depth and growth. I would have liked to see less sexual inuendos and remarks, and more emotional vulnerability and connection.
I have POTS myself and I can say the POTS rep was okay! It was fun to see it in a guy for a change. Sadly there was no mention of it when it came to the spicy stuff. It didn't seem to impact their sex life. And it doesn't have to. But I would have liked to see at least a conversation about it. Because there were no precautions and no repercussions and that felt a little bit unrealistic to me 🤷🏼♀️. Seeing as exercise has to be severly modified for him, it seems weird that sex would be flawless as that also hugely gets the heartrate going! But I might be taking this too serious as someone who has the condition themselves.
I also did not love how the sexual abuse was handled. Again didn't see the emotional growth on page. There was a yucky scene where the FMC sort of lashed out at other survivors and almost played the blame game and next thing I know she is super mature about it. Apparently she talked it through with her therapist (Yay therapy!!). But that all happened off page. So it felt like a really stark contrast. It would have added so much for me if those conversations were in the actual book!! The abuse rep felt overgeneralized and she seemed to recover and reclaime her sexuality fairly quickly once she met the MMC and that left me feeling real weird. It feels insensitive... how one boy can make you confidently want to give head OVERNIGHT. One day she was having a panic attack over it, the next she wanted to give him the best blowjob of his life?! This would be something to discuss and work through in therapy, not something that just magically fixes overnigt?! It feels really insensitive to me! And definetely knocked a star off for me in the rating.
TL;DR an okay ish book with okay POTS rep. But the chemistry was off and there was too much telling and not enough showing. Not loving how the grooming and sexual abuse was portrayed tho!!
Most of the character growth happens off page and that really saddens me. I like it when I see the emotional growth, thoughts, feelings and process on page. And this book skipped over those parts real fast. (Except for the lust, there were plenty of lusty, horny thoughts)
They also keep mentioning how small and little (in height) Rayah (the FMC) is and that got annoying reallll quick. Like, we get it, she is not as tall as the others.
I missed emotional depth and growth. I would have liked to see less sexual inuendos and remarks, and more emotional vulnerability and connection.
I have POTS myself and I can say the POTS rep was okay! It was fun to see it in a guy for a change. Sadly there was no mention of it when it came to the spicy stuff. It didn't seem to impact their sex life. And it doesn't have to. But I would have liked to see at least a conversation about it. Because there were no precautions and no repercussions and that felt a little bit unrealistic to me 🤷🏼♀️. Seeing as exercise has to be severly modified for him, it seems weird that sex would be flawless as that also hugely gets the heartrate going! But I might be taking this too serious as someone who has the condition themselves.
I also did not love how the sexual abuse was handled. Again didn't see the emotional growth on page. There was a yucky scene where the FMC sort of lashed out at other survivors and almost played the blame game and next thing I know she is super mature about it. Apparently she talked it through with her therapist (Yay therapy!!). But that all happened off page. So it felt like a really stark contrast. It would have added so much for me if those conversations were in the actual book!! The abuse rep felt overgeneralized and she seemed to recover and reclaime her sexuality fairly quickly once she met the MMC and that left me feeling real weird. It feels insensitive... how one boy can make you confidently want to give head OVERNIGHT. One day she was having a panic attack over it, the next she wanted to give him the best blowjob of his life?! This would be something to discuss and work through in therapy, not something that just magically fixes overnigt?! It feels really insensitive to me! And definetely knocked a star off for me in the rating.
TL;DR an okay ish book with okay POTS rep. But the chemistry was off and there was too much telling and not enough showing. Not loving how the grooming and sexual abuse was portrayed tho!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Sexual content, Medical trauma, and Pedophilia
Minor: Cancer, Body shaming, Death of parent, Cursing, Terminal illness, Vomit, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
Someone in the sportsworld was grooming and then sexually abusing young girls. This happens off page but is discussed on page.
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