Reviews with content warning for Fatphobia - The Next Best Fling

Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez

5 reviews

booktribe's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Before I picked up this book, I was in a HUGE romance slump. I was DNF-ing romance after romance & I had only enjoyed one ALL YEAR. I had decided to take a break from the genre for a while, but I randomly picked this book up and I’m so glad I did. This book has renewed my love for romance🥰

This is the perfect romance read! It had everything I ever want in a love story. It had lovable main characters, so many adorable moments, lots of pining, and even drama👀

I loved the characters so much. Marcela and Theo were so great. They had such amazing chemistry. Their relationship had such depth. And the characters individually, had so much depth as well. ALL of the characters were so well developed to the point where I understood everyone, both the good and the bad parts. Theo has made his way into my book boyfriend hall of fame. From his grand romantic gestures to how attentive he was to her feelings. He was the perfect man.

Fake dating is my favorite trope and this was fake dating done well. The scenario which caused the fake dating felt so natural to the story. And this book had a third act breakup that made perfect sense. It wasn’t just some miscommunication where grown people don’t know how to explain their emotions. There were layers to it that they really had to sort through in order to come back together.

I feel like this review doesn’t even begin to convey how much I loved this book. This story had me cheesing and giggling at all the cute moments & beautiful confessions. It had me cussing people out. It had me tearing up. It just took me through so many emotions, in the best way. It was literal perfection from beginning to end. This book is for the real lovers! I can’t wait to read more from this author!

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for this arc. All opinions are my own.

TW: abandonment & fatphobia

Content Warnings

amburrella's review

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funny lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

hipearson's review

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emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I really enjoyed this book! It was a quick read that I didn’t want to put down. I liked that it didn’t take itself too seriously — making fun of the tropes within the book for being cliche. I really fell for Marcela and Theo as I read and wish I knew even more about their story already.

Content Warnings

jackie_recommends's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

dogbuttsandbooks's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-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

4.75

I loved this book! The plus size book loving heroine, the San Antonio vibes, MCs having actual emotional growth and sizzling physical chemistry made Next Best Fling a read I couldn’t wait to come back to multiple times day until I finished it.

At times I worried about our main character, Marcela, and her self sabotaging habits built from a cycle of family trauma, but major kudos to the author for actually having our girl do some much needed self reflection and have a honest to goodness character arc! We love to see it!

I don’t know what tropes I would use to describe this book, and I love that fact! It’s a refreshing read, shaking up the sometimes over-relied on romance tropes. Will “getting over someone by getting UNDER his brother” be romance’s next big thing? Because this was HAWT.

I loved the themes of friendship, how family can hurt you, and self acceptance woven throughout the book. And praise the romance gods for giving us a plus size MC who doesn’t hate her body!!! As a plus size reviewer, I connected with some of Marcela’s very real thoughts and insecurities about previous dates and interactions, but she ultimately never let them become intrusive or stop her from loving herself. Seriously, the bar shouldn’t be so low but I adored how the author allowed Marcela to convey some realities of plus size life without ever leaning on fatphobia to show us.

All in all, I loved this one and will absolutely be recommending to all Texan and Plus size romance readers.

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