Reviews with content warning for Cursing - While We Were Dating

I will not put any Taylor swift songs for this book.
No offense to people who like this book, but it was definitely not for me. It was so incredibly boring, I almost DNFed it. I am not into the fling/one night stand to lovers thing. It did have plus size and POC rep which I love, but the rest of the book really fell flat to me. The characters were just boring and I did not really connect with them. Also, I think a lot of my problem was that most of what draws the characters to each other is physical attraction, and it doesn’t really say much about why they like each other on a personality level, just that they do. It was also so slow paced that I was dragging my feet to finish it. They also never really fixed their problems, they were just like “I’m in love with you”, and ignore the problems. Like where’s the conflict resolution?? Like I don’t understand. It just was so predictable and it made it very unenjoyable. We’re getting into spicy hallmark territory, which is fine if you like that, but I don’t. I haven’t read any other Jasmine Guillory books so I can’t compare it to the others, but I will not be reading them in the future.

Age rating: 16+, more spicy than Emily Henry, and not just a few scenes, heavily interspersed throughout the book, spice rating: 2.5/5🌶️

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meredith_williams_'s review against another edition

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lighthearted 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

2.75

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alexisgarcia's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing 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

3.5

This was overall a very cute story. I’ve never read a celebrity focused book other than The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo so it was nice to expand my reading of celebrity based books. Reading this was like watching a rom-com. The writing was smooth, the characters were admirable, and the ending was sweet. This was an easy and stress-free book. Would recommend if you enjoy books centered around celebrities love stories!

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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slow-paced

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

3.0

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caseythereader's review

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emotional funny 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? No

4.25

- Jasmine Guillory's books get better and better with each release. In her early books I found the dialogue quite stilted, but now everything flows and the people and their conversations feel real.
- I loved the slight twist on the fake dating trope here - they were sleeping together and maybe dating, and then turned it into publicly fake dating, and I'm sure you know the drill from there.
- Anna and Ben were both just such sweet and lovely people. This is one to pick up when you need something gentle.
- Along with that, though, are some good discussions about anxiety and about being a famous fat Black person.

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