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cmab's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
So many parts of this book were 5* moments and you can definitely see how this book informs the Knockemout series! Her writing was a little clunkier in this, lots of info dumping and it felt like she started setting the scene all over again about a 3rd of the way through, which was noticeable enough to be jarring. The cast of background characters and setting are immersive and there are beautiful moments of connection throughout. However, at first I felt unconnected to the main relationship which actually fits perfectly with Luke distancing himself from Harper And then there’s the deployment and you fall in love with Harper’s near perfect character! But Luke is just so frustrating and is such a dick throughout the majority of the book - he uses Harper, leaves her, blames her for his emotional immaturity and grief, threatens and shouts at her and then blames her for him using her! All of this is more realistic to men than most men written by women are, so from the perspective of character realism, it worked, but it made the ending unsatisfactory. Whilst the HEA was expected in a book like this, Singing a song and saying - sorry, I do love you actually, I just put you through hell and in danger because I couldn’t have a grown up conversation, please marry me- doesn’t really meet the necessary level of grovelling The family, friendship and sub-plot were great, the FMC was too sweet and perfect to be true but definitely loveable. I will 100% be reading Aldo and Gloria’s story but also felt this book told a lot of their story too, so we’ll see how that impacts the enjoyment of the next book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, War, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder
nickypizarro's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I'm not ashamed to say that I've happily joined the Lucy Score hype/bandwagon.
Luke Garrison may be the hometown hero but even the best of us can't get away from our parent's nagging and concerns. In comes Harper, knocking him and the small town off-kilter... almost quite literally. He's only got a few more weeks left before deploying and his scheming sister suggests he fake dates the new firecracker in town to ease his parents and hold them at bay.
If I'm honest, I think I wanted to throttle Luke more times than I can count while reading this book. He was soo in denial and it was staring him right in the face. I'm usually good at figuring out what's holding some characters back but I wasn't expecting Luke's dark past. Let alone throwing Harper's in the mix as well. The way things ended up connecting was smart and I enjoyed the way the book's timeline is so easily intertwined with the second book in the series Finally Mine.
4.5/5 stars
3/5 Twice Level
TWs: Mind to moderate mentions of domestic abuse, physical abuse, death, war, miscarriage, medical trauma, medical content, injury/injury details, car accident, blood, child death, and grief
While I have received an arc of this book, my thoughts are all my own.
Luke Garrison may be the hometown hero but even the best of us can't get away from our parent's nagging and concerns. In comes Harper, knocking him and the small town off-kilter... almost quite literally. He's only got a few more weeks left before deploying and his scheming sister suggests he fake dates the new firecracker in town to ease his parents and hold them at bay.
If I'm honest, I think I wanted to throttle Luke more times than I can count while reading this book. He was soo in denial and it was staring him right in the face. I'm usually good at figuring out what's holding some characters back but I wasn't expecting Luke's dark past. Let alone throwing Harper's in the mix as well. The way things ended up connecting was smart and I enjoyed the way the book's timeline is so easily intertwined with the second book in the series Finally Mine.
4.5/5 stars
3/5 Twice Level
TWs: Mind to moderate mentions of domestic abuse, physical abuse, death, war, miscarriage, medical trauma, medical content, injury/injury details, car accident, blood, child death, and grief
While I have received an arc of this book, my thoughts are all my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Medical trauma, Car accident, Blood, Child death, Domestic abuse, War, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Death, and Medical content
sdemo08's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- 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
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Medical content, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Blood
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