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booklovinmamas's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
✓High School Bully Romance
✓Enemies to Lovers
✓Opposite Sides of the Track
Graphic: Bullying and Sexual content
Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, and Death of parent
Minor: Abortion and Suicide
becca303'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
5.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Cancer, Chronic illness, Classism, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Outing, and Sexism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Classism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Abortion, Cancer, Child death, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Racism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Outing, Misogyny, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Grief, Hate crime, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Drug use, and Eating disorder
lydialou419'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
I had a really hard time empathizing with the “bully” character in this bully romance. I do think Douglas did a great job illustrating some very real conflicts certain communities face and I loved that she did that!
Overall, it was a nice journey of self discovery. Would definitely recommend to a friend.
As always, check your trigger warnings before reading.
Happy Reading 😮💨📚
Graphic: Lesbophobia, Bullying, Homophobia, Hate crime, and Classism
Moderate: Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Body shaming
Minor: Terminal illness, Cancer, Abortion, and Suicide
bookishchaos's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
First off, I get this was Penelope Douglas's first time writing a F/F love story but she wrote these female characters like alpha males (I've seen other reviews talking about this as well).
Spoilers ahead (very minor tho)
Some of the spicey scenes were icky and cringe. Like weirdly aggressive and forced? Not to mention the book started out with Olivia being underage which felt super unnecessary. Yuck.
Clay also treats Olivia like trash until like 70% into the book. I'm aware this was a bully-romance but the toxicity of this relationship was unrealistic and eye rolling.
Overall the book wasn't awful but wasn't fantastic. It had so much potential but too many flaws which is why I wouldn't recommend it.
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Homophobia, and Sexual content
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, and Sexual assault
Minor: Death of parent, Suicide, Violence, and Abortion
ghostie333's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Moderate: Body shaming, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, Bullying, Homophobia, Child death, and Death
Minor: Sexual assault and Abortion
myreadingdream13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I expected violence, I've read all the trigger warnings ahead of time, and I can stomach a lot of stupid melodrama, enemies to lovers is in my top five tropes. From the summary, the book sounds fine. But I hated it from start to finish.
Plot-wise the biggest criticism is the gratuitous amount of trauma and suffering. It's so excessive it becomes funny because every sad thing imaginable has happened to these poor characters.
A deeply 2014 Tumbler reading experience.
Writing wise a lot of plot points get dropped and forgotten, probably like 70%. The tone is wack, going from depressing to flirty way too quickly. The pacing is lousy. Some scenes will drag on without an apparent need for them to last as long. On the other hand, a lot of moments felt cut off because we would switch POVs and it is another day.
Graphic: Racism, Bullying, Child death, and Violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Infidelity, Eating disorder, and Homophobia
Minor: Abortion, Incest, Addiction, Rape, Self harm, and Cultural appropriation
faithreadss's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Bullying, and Classism
Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Violence, Body shaming, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Abortion
annoyingtwig's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Bullying, and Homophobia
Moderate: Child death, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Sexual assault, Violence, Alcohol, and Death
Minor: Abortion and Death of parent
archiveofrasa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
for the girls that don't know, that means:
- juvenile writing
- questionable plots
- too long
- sex scenes (4 to be exact, you judge if that is too much or enough)
- a rollercoaster ride
I'm just gonna dump my thoughts into a less put-together manner, starting off with my grievances:
- the bullying. I have never liked the bullying trope but I knew what I was getting into at least, so I can't personally complain, but I do want to make it clear that Clay is a piece of shit at the beginning
- classism galore but that is essentially the foundation of their enemies relationship, sprinkled in with gay denial from Clay. with classism comes racism because intersectionality. yes Liv and her family are like a fucking quarter Cuban but she's got an olive skin tone (my skin tone) and if you know the issues Latine people face being in the USA... yeah. do with that what you will
- Liv pressuring Clay to come out like girl how many times do I have to see this plotline
but it did remind me of the fiction I read when I was younger and surrounded by straight couples so it's probably nostalgia talking to me haha
and I did very much appreciate the certain topics discussed, such as:
- lesbians being seen as predatory by straight girls
- the social construct of virginity
- men fetishising lesbians
also, that plot twist with Callum, genuinely did not see that coming. that man became just a little more interesting but he's still a fuckass douche
Graphic: Homophobia, Bullying, Sexual content, and Classism
Moderate: Death of parent, Suicide, and Sexual assault
Minor: Child death and Abortion
unicornofthesea'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
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, Racism, Sexism, Alcohol, Cancer, Child death, Death, Suicide, Abortion, Classism, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Mental illness