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jenn_reads's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This book was recommended to me as enemies to lovers, but it is *definitely* not. Perhaps you could call it grumpy/sunshine, although more like grumpy/reasonable person having a bit of a hard time.
It was ok. I know I complain about romance novels doing that thing I hate with a stupid misunderstanding almost at the end, which this one didn't have, but it also kind of... petered out I guess. Like what are we still doing here for a few dozen pages with this closed door romance after the leads are happily ever after?
Anyway, it was fine. Just fine.
It was ok. I know I complain about romance novels doing that thing I hate with a stupid misunderstanding almost at the end, which this one didn't have, but it also kind of... petered out I guess. Like what are we still doing here for a few dozen pages with this closed door romance after the leads are happily ever after?
Anyway, it was fine. Just fine.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Infertility
Toxic sibling relationshipeyredactyl's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Miscarriage
Minor: Sexual assault
stacy837's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Grief, Abandonment, Infidelity, and Classism
Moderate: Sexual content and Toxic relationship
Minor: Infertility, Blood, and Miscarriage
bzliz's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
I suspect that I’m too American and/or too young to truly enjoy this book. Maybe I got the wrong impression from the blurb on the back but I was expecting a somewhat cutesy grumpy/sunshine bookshop romance with Thea learning a lot about herself as she navigates her sudden independence and that’s really not what this is.
The book is very dialogue heavy so we have to make a lot of inferences about how characters are feeling which was frustrating at times. To me, Thea comes across as a very passive person. She’s way too chill about discovering her husband’s infidelity. I was expecting some feminine rage about it but she really gave us nothing. It would be way too dramatic for this setting to see the cheating husband get some comeuppance for his rotten behavior but it would have been nice. It’s also super weird to me how Thea’s friends stay friends with the cheater and the other woman. I would have felt betrayed if I was her but she didn’t really have any feelings about it and if I was one of the friends, I couldn’t have excused their behavior. Infidelity and disloyalty is a wild trait to be okay with, especially when it means you’re going to dinner parties at the house he used to share with Thea that the other woman has moved into.
Edward is also pretty unlikeable. Not moving on at all from a humiliating experience and then spending several decades on a revenge quest to sleep with every woman his brother had slept with is super weird and more than a little unhinged. That’s a pretty big red flag.
Maybe I’ll revisit this in a decade or so when I’m closer to Thea’s age and see if my feelings have changed but for now I’ll settle with declaring that it’s just not my cup of tea.
The book is very dialogue heavy so we have to make a lot of inferences about how characters are feeling which was frustrating at times. To me, Thea comes across as a very passive person. She’s way too chill about discovering her husband’s infidelity. I was expecting some feminine rage about it but she really gave us nothing. It would be way too dramatic for this setting to see the cheating husband get some comeuppance for his rotten behavior but it would have been nice. It’s also super weird to me how Thea’s friends stay friends with the cheater and the other woman. I would have felt betrayed if I was her but she didn’t really have any feelings about it and if I was one of the friends, I couldn’t have excused their behavior. Infidelity and disloyalty is a wild trait to be okay with, especially when it means you’re going to dinner parties at the house he used to share with Thea that the other woman has moved into.
Edward is also pretty unlikeable. Not moving on at all from a humiliating experience and then spending several decades on a revenge quest to sleep with every woman his brother had slept with is super weird and more than a little unhinged. That’s a pretty big red flag.
Maybe I’ll revisit this in a decade or so when I’m closer to Thea’s age and see if my feelings have changed but for now I’ll settle with declaring that it’s just not my cup of tea.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Pregnancy and Miscarriage
allison_jo's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
2.75
biggest takeaway: disappointment.
the blurb promised a cute little bookshop romance, but the middle of this book dragged for me. cutting 100 pages of stilted dialogue and ellipses wouldn’t have changed the plot at all. the story was set up to be a bit of a grumpy/sunshine who both had problems to work through but became more of an asshole/inferiority complex than anything. i found it difficult to connect with either character.
and the last fifty pages included an incredibly distasteful (to put it lightly) situation intended to set up a Big Talk that felt forced and rushed. i don’t know how it could feel rushed when it was in the last fifty pages of an already over-long, four-hundred-plus page book, but it did.
the blurb promised a cute little bookshop romance, but the middle of this book dragged for me. cutting 100 pages of stilted dialogue and ellipses wouldn’t have changed the plot at all. the story was set up to be a bit of a grumpy/sunshine who both had problems to work through but became more of an asshole/inferiority complex than anything. i found it difficult to connect with either character.
and the last fifty pages included an incredibly distasteful (to put it lightly) situation intended to set up a Big Talk that felt forced and rushed. i don’t know how it could feel rushed when it was in the last fifty pages of an already over-long, four-hundred-plus page book, but it did.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Infidelity
Moderate: Infertility
Minor: Sexual assault
beepbeep101's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Infidelity
Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual content, Infertility, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Abandonment
alisonreadsitall's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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
4.5
4.5 stars ⭐️
Spice: 🌶️ (more like half a pepper - mostly fade to black)
I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this one. I even got a few butterflies, but I do love the sunshine/grump trope and this was done so well! 🥰
Also- who doesn’t love a book about a bookshop? 🥹🩷
I want to be friends with Thea- she was dealt a pretty shit hand, but handled it with such grace! And her sense of humor is wonderful. 🥰 😅 She definitely came out of her grief in the end, and I wish I had that much cheeky confidence to say what’s on your mind and not care what happens!
Chris is an absolute POS. 🤬 Thea was much nicer than she needed to be, and I would not have handled it well at all.
Edward started out a bit of a shit, but definitely grew on me and I appreciated his honesty, even though many mistakes were made. 🤦🏼♀️
Tropes:
Grumpy/Sunshine
Love triangle
Different worlds
Definitely recommend! 🩷
Spice: 🌶️ (more like half a pepper - mostly fade to black)
I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this one. I even got a few butterflies, but I do love the sunshine/grump trope and this was done so well! 🥰
Also- who doesn’t love a book about a bookshop? 🥹🩷
I want to be friends with Thea- she was dealt a pretty shit hand, but handled it with such grace! And her sense of humor is wonderful. 🥰 😅 She definitely came out of her grief in the end, and I wish I had that much cheeky confidence to say what’s on your mind and not care what happens!
Chris is an absolute POS. 🤬 Thea was much nicer than she needed to be, and I would not have handled it well at all.
Edward started out a bit of a shit, but definitely grew on me and I appreciated his honesty, even though many mistakes were made. 🤦🏼♀️
Tropes:
Grumpy/Sunshine
Love triangle
Different worlds
Definitely recommend! 🩷
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity and Grief
Minor: Pregnancy and Miscarriage
themoonshinegirl's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Misogyny and Violence
Minor: Miscarriage, Infertility, and Pregnancy
emesskay's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Death and Infidelity
jennp28's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I really liked this one. Nice to read a romance about people in their forties given that I now am such a person myself. I liked that it wasn’t melodramatic or anything, it just kind of meandered through their feelings. Interesting cast of characters. Satisfying ending.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity