Reviews

Was I Ever Here by Naomi Loud

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kaleighreadsbooks's review against another edition

4.0

the storyline and concept of this book was immaculate! i feel like the reincarnation trope doesn’t get much love since very few books are out there with it.

but this one! what a ride! i absolutely loved the chemistry and tension between the two MC’s. i laughed at some parts, swooned (especially all the sweet things he does for sunny) and i also cried. i truly felt the pain sunny was going through with her grief.

when he searched for her for 5 years after he remembered their past lives together…what a dedicated hero.

Safety squad:
no virgins
no ow drama (nothing about the H’s past is mentioned)
not messaging om drama but there was a scene between the fmc and another man on page. she was also best friends with a past hook up

bettyswanreader's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-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

4.5

🌶🌶🌶

ridwa's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

xaveria's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad 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? Yes

3.0

This was a cute read for me. I liked it, but I didn't love it. It was very original, but also a little predictable. But I liked the time I spend reading this story.

m_fin16's review against another edition

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2.0

Enjoyable for the first 1/4 maybe but it was quite boring and nothing really happened, I thought maybe there would be a twist at some point but no 🤷‍♀️ I read this as it sounded intriguing with the whoke reincarnation aspect but it really didnt explore that as deeply as it could and ended up feeling more like a way to explain why these two people with nothing in common and no reason to like each other suddenly feel in love

jayme_is_all_booked's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Original Read Date: 05/08/24-05/13/24
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ .5
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Tropes: Mafia, dark romance, touch her and die, found family, reincarnation, lbgtq+ rep
POV: first person, dual pov

Plot: interesting
Ending: not terrible

Synopsis: When Byzantine is dying he sees his past lives and in all of them the same soul is with him. He wakes from this near death experience longing for someone he isn't even sure is real, until the night he sees Sunny and knows she's the soul he's been looking for.

My opinion:

Pros: the premise is really cool especially since Byzantine is the last person I'd expect to belief in reincarnation. Sunny is a mess, full stop, but because of his knowledge of their previous lives he knows what she needs even as she is discovering it herself. The initial pushback is so realistic. Even though Byzantine is red flag central he means well.

Cons: I read this book because I wanted a past lives romance and while this technically is one, it didn't focus on that. Their past life experiences propelled one half of the story, but Sunny's story wasn't the same. It also felt too unrealistic at times that these characters would be experiencing these things while also killing people for wrongs they may or may not have committed.

crilleacreereads's review against another edition

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5.0

I could not put this book down! Finished in half a day, and immediately started the next book. It had a hold on me and made my cry my own tears and I’m not even mad about it.