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shanaetheflyest'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: Abandonment and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Pedophilia, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Death, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Cursing, Sexual content, and Miscarriage
Minor: Suicide, Infidelity, Child abuse, Infertility, Medical content, Abortion, Misogyny, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
wellreadblackgirl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, and Suicide
Minor: Pedophilia
leesbookss's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Miscarriage and Death
now_booking's review against another edition
- 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? No
4.0
The premise is that when Eliana’s tech savant (adopted) daughter goes a-hacking and discovers who her biological father is (Malachi) and runs off to go meet him, she sets in motion a series of dramatic events that lead to Malachi’s fiancée Ziva spiraling and Malachi and Eliana coming to terms with loss.
The novel isn’t about a main couple per se, but there is really good relationship development and you felt like you got to know the characters fairly well including the couple. It’s really hard to get the balance right in a novel like this where multiple characters have a voice and to not lose the chemistry and momentum in the coupling. This succeeded in telling a multifaceted story but still having it be a romance at its core. I liked all the key players- Eliana, Malachi, their smart-mouthed daughter, Violet, the cast of family and friends.
Things I wasn’t as in love with: I found it really hard to believe that Malachi didn’t realise how toxic Ziva was before. I think it played into the “men love toxic love” trope and I think I felt like Malachi was to grown for that kind of nonsense. I was also ambivalent about the treatment of mental health in this book with Ziva being the main example and her presenting very much a worst case scenario of not getting help. There was to an extent a reinforcement of certain gender role tropes that was subtly done but that gave me a bit of pause even though I recognize them as being very realistic parts of the culture they were representing.
Ultimately, I was really sad when this ended because I enjoyed it so much. I am in the mood to dive back into this author’s back list and find something else.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Gun violence, Mental illness, Infertility, Murder, Suicide, Abandonment, Grief, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, and Blood
jessg1014's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Child death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, and Infertility
misssymone's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Miscarriage
ashatroyal's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Abandonment, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Infertility, Self harm, and Suicide
bookswhitme's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I’ll tell you one thing, this story was beautiful, heavy, and tragic all at the same time. It’s written in a way that allows us to take in all the main perspectives we need: Malachi, Ziva, Eliana, Violet, and Easton. They’re all key players in this story and the narrative treated them as such.
Now, I wanted to snatch up Violet a few times for getting beside herself lol. Her decision to secretly meet her biological father sets off a series of events that no one is prepared for. Malachi has been wanting a child for as long as he can remember and so when Violet shows up in his classroom, he’s shocked, but never hesitates to step up. Unfortunately that puts her adoptive mom, Eliana, in an uncomfortable position and unknowingly pushes his fiancée into even more unstable territory.
The love story between Violet, Malachi, and Eliana was beautiful. You get to watch their family connection grow and even though I didn’t always buy the chemistry between the couple, I always bought into the family dynamic that they established. Unfortunately, a good amount of the tragedy in this book stems from Ziva and the type of person her past has turned her into. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to beat her several times over, but I also felt sorry for her because of all she’d been through, that wasn’t an excuse for her to be a horrible person, but whew she really never stood a chance. Easton having to go through all this with his mama broke my heart, but I’m glad he had Malachi to help him through.
We were always headed to a confrontation of epic proportions, but things spiraled QUICKLY once we hit like...90%. Even with the trigger warning, I wasn’t expecting what happened. I knew the end result, but I didn’t know that’s how we would get there so that kind of threw me. Of course, in the end everything is wrapped up with a bow, but WHEW that ending was a lot.
All in all, an engaging read and definitely one to pick up if you can handle the heavy themes.
Graphic: Grief, Toxic relationship, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Sexual content
Moderate: Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, and Pedophilia
readwithmoniqua's review against another edition
5.0
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Spice: 🌶🥵🌶🥵🌶
TW/CW: Miscarriage, Death of a spouse, Loss of Life, Chapter 36 has on page Suicide, Sexual manipulation of a minor (spoken on, not depicted)
Thoughts: I had to slide in KB dms because I was mad from jump. Ziva went through some TRAUMATIC shit. Things unimaginable that caused her to be the way she is. However, she knew what she was doing and did some fucked Up ass shit. And it wasn’t like she didn’t have the support. She had hella support.
Malachi? I had to change his name because that’s my mini’s name and he was doing thangs to Eliana and I was like nope. So we gon call him Malik. He is a real fictional man that puts these real life men to fucking shame. Taking in a kid who isn’t his and then finding out he has a kid and steps up as Daddy from jump. Love him for that.
Eliana? I just wanted to hug her. She needs all the damn hugs and therapy. Losing her best friend, gaining a child, and then losing her husband. She deserves all the love that Malik is giving her. And she’s well loved by her late husband’s family who push her to go out and date. Fall in love again.
This book gave me ALL the feels. Even shed some tears. Now, go read it.
Graphic: Suicide
Moderate: Miscarriage