Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Things We Never Got Over

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score

63 reviews

ecravens's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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aztlan's review against another edition

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2.5

I have conflicting feelings about this book. On the one hand, I read 85% of it in a single day, and stayed up until 1:30am to finish it. On the other hand, I don't know why. There are some things I liked about this book, and some things I really, really, really did not.
I adored most (key word, most) of the characters in this book. More specifically, the side cast. I adored Waylay and Liza J and generally liked the other characters such as Sloane, Chloe and (usually) Nash. Waylay especially was a sweet feminine girl who'd had a very rough start to life, and I really loved seeing her grow and bloom throughout the novel. However, I really didn't care about Naomi, and I have several issues with Knox.
Naomi is your stereotypical 'sunshine girl', bubbly, optimistic and sweet. She also apparently has no personality other than loving coffee, being highly organised, and getting turned on by Knox. She does have a little bit of a spine when it comes to looking out for Waylay, but she generally relies on other people to solve all her problems throughout the book. Overall, she didn't have any qualities I found compelling, and more than a few that were annoying.
Knox is, to be frank, bordering on abusive and controlling. His whole schtick is that he's 'protective' of Naomi, and this manifests in him literally punching up his own brother because Nash dared look sideways at her long before Knox got involved with her, and generally trying to stop Naomi from doing things without his help or approval. Knox being like this is especially shitty because

there's a whole thing about Naomi's ex-fiancée being physically abusive, and yet the emotional abuse is glorified?

He also has some really stereotypical attitudes about women on their periods, with him avoiding his own damn bar when his all-female staff who have synced up are on their periods.
Now, why did I read so much of this in one day? Not sure. The first 70% or so could have easily been a third of the length and gotten the message across. Maybe if the build of their relationship had not revolved around Knox being controlling, I wouldn't have as many complaints about how much time was spent on it. The last 30% is most of the actual plot of the book, and suddenly became quite high stakes and far more compelling, for exactly 0 reasons related to the romance. I would have rathered the story focus on this plot line about

Tina's mistakes and her relationship to Naomi and Waylay

than on Naomi's romance with Knox.

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kayolay's review against another edition

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emotional 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? Yes

4.0

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jhaneveauguste's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing 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

3.0

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samixox's review against another edition

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emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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cluckieduck's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

This was such an odd read - it really took some time for me to get into that I almost DNF ~20% in, but I enjoyed the writing style. I think it was a tad too long in the middle which led to a really rushed, almost out of the blue ending with

drug lords & the mafia showing up

, but the pros outweigh the cons so I'm leading to a 3.5*...I think.

This is one of the better enemies-to-lovers tropes I've read, because OMG, Knox is a complete douchenozzle, then he goes and says some endearing crap and immediately I'm all swooning again. But then I remember that dude is 43 YEARS OLD and he's acting like a lead in a YA novel. He was a total tool - a growly, incredibly hot, barber, but a tool nonetheless.

Naomi was such a people-pleaser and I enjoyed her growth throughout the ups & downs in the small-town setting. Knockemout is a great small town with a fantastic score of supporting characters. The bonus 2nd epilogue is worth the download that gives a teasing glance to Nash & Lucian's HEAs which I look forward to reading about.

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rosegoes3's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.0

I liked this book. It was more violent than I anticipated at the end and the pacing for the last like seven chapters was odd but I liked it and I liked the characters.

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