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owliglot'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Homophobia and Abandonment
Moderate: Cancer and Sexual content
Minor: Eating disorder and Alcohol
bedtimesandbooks'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
4.5
Graphic: Cancer, Homophobia, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Eating disorder
katywhyte'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
4.0
Minor: Cancer, Eating disorder, and Alcohol
sami_leigh'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
🌶/5
I'm conscious this could be rather burdensome to hear, but you remain the thing I have most chosen for myself. The thing that's most exclusively mine. The one thing that brings me the deepest joy.
🇬🇧 First person POV (Luc)
🇬🇧 Fake dating
🇬🇧 BANTER! 🙌🏻
🇬🇧 Forced proximity
🇬🇧 Enemies to lovers (somewhat miscommunication)
🇬🇧 Growth in our MCs!
🇬🇧 Nickname
🇬🇧 Representation of diverse sexualities.
🇬🇧 Well established -and hilarious -secondary characters
⚠️ Cancer, abandonment, homophobia, references to drugs and alcohol.
Graphic: Homophobia and Abandonment
Moderate: Cancer and Sexual content
Minor: Alcohol
wardenred'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
4.0
“Are we really bad at this?” I asked. “We’ve been fake dating for three days and we’ve already fake broken up once.”
“Yes, but we fake resolved our difficulties and fake got back together, and I’m hoping it’s made us fake stronger.”
I cracked this book open with the full intention of loving the hell out of it. After all, it's by Alexis Hall, and he's one of my favorite romance authors. And my friends have been recommending it to me for ages. And everyone kept saying it had the vibe of a far more adult Red, White & Royal Blue, and I absolutely adored that one. Oh, and finally, it's a fake dating romance with a tint of enemies-to-lovers, how cool is that?
However, for the first looong half of the story, my heart just wasn't in it. I kept trying to figure out what was wrong. There were plenty of hilarious moments. And plenty of dramatic moments with feelings. And lots and lots of compelling characters and cool scenes and amazing banter. But somehow, all of it refused to come together into a single engaging tapestry.
Graphic: Abandonment and Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Homophobia
botanicalprofanity's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Eating disorder, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Minor: Body shaming and Sexual content
taelights's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
First of all the book dragged. It was so long and for what? Plus there is apparently a sequel too? Unnecessary in my opinion and I definitely won't be reading it.
While I did find some of the jokes funny I felt most of them fell flat and the author was trying too hard to be funny. I felt like I was reading a "crack" fic that was trying too hard rather than an actua published book. Plus some of the "jokes" were a bit of problematic - including rape/sexual assult ones, biphobic ones, etc. Plus I thought the book did play into some harmful stereotypes of both lesbians and bi/pan people. And as a vegetarian I did not like the way vegetarian and vegans were portrayed in this book and it felt like the author really likes forcing vegetarians to eat meat which is gross of them.
The negatives:
1) Both of the main characters need some major therapy; both individual and couples. Yet after after a whole book dealing with their flaws and trauma and incompatibility and trust issues these things just seem to go away at the end in an unsatisfying way. I hate the whole "love will fix all your problems" thing. Like damn I hope these two characters went to therapy next book but I doubt it lol.
2) While Oliver and Luc had chemistry at the beginning of the book I thought they lost all their chemistry. I was no longer believing in their relationship and routing for them towards the end. Plus THREE breakups in one book is a bit extreme. By the third I kind of didn't even want them to get back together.
3) I thought the side lesbian relationship was problematic like they play into both the lesbian age difference trope and while I personally love age gaps in general it's annoying when it's like 90% of lesbian media. Also it played into the whole gross lesbian married to man and cheats on him with a woman trope. Also the lesbian friend felt like the angry lesbian trope.
4) I also felt that there was harmful bi/pan stereotypes in this. Like having one of Luc's ex boyfriends being a bi man who leaves a gay man for a straight woman.... It kind of plays into the harmful belief that bi people will always leave their same sex partners for a straight relationship.
5) The characters were all extremely one dimensional. The side characters especially but so were Luc and Oliver honestly.
6) As a vegetarian I was extremely disappointed in how the author handled a vegetarian character. Between making the vegetarian character eat meat not once but twice, the love interest who convinced him to eat meat basically commenting that it's sexy he's going against his morals and eating meat, characters acting like being vegetarian is so strange and different and such an inconvenience, and being like yeah he's obviously only vegetarian because he has an eating disorder. Honestly I between the jokes about vegans/vegetarians and the whole forcing one to eat meat just made me so uncomfortable and I honestly believe this author has something against people who don't eat meat which is weird of them.
7) The whole reason for the fake dating plot line didn't make sense in the first place.
8) The whole plotline with Luc's dad didn't make sense and didn't have a satisfying conclusion at all and just made the whole element of the book seem needless.
I could go on. I just really did not like this book by the end.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Cancer, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Alcohol
Biphobiasavvyrosereads'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
Luc O’Donnell is the mildly famous son of an aging rock star, in need of serious reputation rehabilitation in order to save his job. Enter perfect (fake) boyfriend Oliver Blackwood.
This book was made for me and that is all. I genuinely can’t remember the last time I felt like a book was so utterly and perfectly *me* in terms of sense of humor and writing style, but this one landed in every possible way. I also craved French toast a lot. The romance is adorable and sweet and genuine, every page is more hilarious than the next, and the plot is simple but with a lot of depth and heart.
I want to have more eloquent words to explain in detail why this book is such a delight, but I honestly don’t—I just adored it. One of my toxic reader traits is that I don’t always love a book when I’m in it—I’d rather “have read” a book than “be reading it.” But with this book I loved every moment I spent with it, and never wanted it to end, and honestly that’s the highest praise I can give. Alexis Hall can have all my money because his books have my entire heart.
Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: LGBTQ rom-coms; British humor; French toast.
CW: Homophobia; emotional abuse; cancer; abandonment; brief discussion of eating disorder.
Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism
breadbees'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Abandonment
Moderate: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Dysphoria
Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Classism
coffeeatthebeachwoodcafe's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer and Eating disorder