Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Temperature of Me and You by Brian Zepka

2 reviews

parasolcrafter's review

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emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0


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foreverinastory's review

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

2.5

Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was a hot ass mess. Pun intended. I might lower my rating bc this became such a damn chore to read.

The Temperature of Me & You is about two young boys navigating high school, crushes and fire powers. Unfortunately for Dylan, Jordan seems interesting until he explodes his ice cream cup can then literally burns Dylan within minutes of meeting. Dylan needs to know what happened, but he doesn't know how to contact Jordan. The two eventually connect again and they try to figure out how Jordan's power works.

I really wanted to like this but when we start out by lightly stalking a love interest, the red flags go up. I could not deal with Dylan. He just seemed so disconnected from reality. As the book goes on, the plans he hatch just got increasingly more ridiculous. I really considered DNFing this book because I was so annoyed/irritated. I don't know if this was a product of the writing, the characters, the plot or a combination of all three. there's also a Harry Potter reference in this and like I hate seeing those in books written by white cishet authors, but seeing it in a queer books that publishing in 2022?? You should know better.

I did really like Dylan's friendship with Kirsten and Perry. I loved those two girls. I loved how much they were there for Dylan and each other. Easily the best part of the book for me. I also loved the sapphic character who came in later even though she's done some pretty awful things.

All in all, this didn't work for me, but I would read the author's next book and see if it was just this book in particular.

Rep: white gay male MC, achillean male love interest, white lesbian female side character in a WLW relationship.

CWs: Underage alcohol consumption, bullying, fire/fire injury, homophobia/homomisia, kidnapping/attempted kidnapping, medical trauma/scientific experimentation without consent. Moderate: Car accident, death of parents, vomit. Harry Potter reference.

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