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kalin_grace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Vomit, Violence, Stalking, and Sexual content
hmatt'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? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Sexual assault, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, and Stalking
Minor: Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Violence, and Vomit
Minor pregnancy tag for breastfeeding and discussions of becoming pregnant. Minor homophobia tag for several brief mentions of a minor homophobic character.amibo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Pregnancy, Violence, Medical trauma, and Stalking
getbrekked'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
4.0
Graphic: Gaslighting and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Sexual assault, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Homophobia, Vomit, and Violence
taynicole2698's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Sexual assault, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Death of parent, Stalking, and Physical abuse
Minor: Car accident, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Violence, and Mental illness
fayereadsbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The book follows the story of Addie and Dylan and is told in a then and now narrative. Then follows Addie and Dylan meeting, their relationship and their eventual break up. Now is about when driving to a mutual friends wedding, they crash into each other and have to do the very long journey with a mis-matched car full, and naturally chaos endues.
I enjoyed reading both characters perspectives but wasn't overly fond of either of them, they were both pretty good but nothing memorable. Dylan is very privileged and his group of friends reminded me of people from the TV show Made In Chelsea, they are just so fancy but in a way they don't realise how privileged and lucky they are.
For the first around half of the book I thought it was okay but I especially enjoyed the second half. I liked the ending of the book and thought all of the plot points and storylines were were concluded and wrapped up well
There were a few topics that I didn't expect to be in a book like this so I definitely advise checking content warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, and Car accident
Minor: Eating disorder, Vomit, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Stalking, and Violence
therobinjoyce's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Dylan is a weak-willed, spineless sap who cannot make his own decisions, chases after random girls, has an unhealthy toxic relationship with his family and best friend and is the epitome of male idiocy.
Addie has a strong temper but will to use it. The fact that she allowed herself to do anything more with Dylan than a summer fling is stupid and ridiculous, and just mad me hate her. Not only doe she follow after Dylan and take him back, but she allows him to basically make her life he'll because he won't break off his friendship with someone who is so clearly toxic and trying to break them up. If I was supposed to feel sorry for what happened with Etienne, I'm sorry I couldn't. She put herself in that position. I know it sounds harsh and I'm not condoning Etienne's behaviour one bit! But if you don't want to be in a situation like that you'd have been a loyal girlfriend and shut off his advances waaaaaay before it came to its conclusion. She was a weak-willed, pathetic wimp who basically flailed around the whole book.
And don't even get me started on Marcus. I don't care if he's supposed to be redeemed by his actions in the end of the book, his character is TOXIC!!! THIS BOOK SHOULD HAVE COME WITH TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR TOXIC RELATIONSHIP! It's not even remotely funny that someone could write a book which is supposed to be a light-hearted romcom only to have such a toxic character as A MAIN character and have us see how evil and backstabbing and vindictive and conniving he is and apparently be ok with his apparent "redemption"?? No. This is not ok.
This promotes the blind acceptance of people who have selfishly ruined lives and made life a living hell and emotionally hurt so many people just because they say sorry. As someone who has suffered gaslighting and toxic relationships in the past and is still affected by the aftereffects of all that trauma, it is not ok to have a character like this as part of the book and NOT include trigger warning. Not cool, Beth. Not cool.
The writing was fine...but theres nothing much else I can say about it. It wasn't full of purple prose, gorgeous dialogue, evocative descriptions. It was just so flat.
Plot was so bland I didn't enjoy it at all and slogged through for the sake of it being A buddy read. Glad I didn't spend more than 99p on this. The only interesting part was Deb and Rodney's character but that was such a minor part of the book it was not worth it.
For a romance there was barely any chemistry between Addie and Dylan and the spice...it would be an insult to the name of Spice to call the "romantic" and "steamy" content in this book "spice". Flat, boring, and really cringy.
I will be giving The Flatshare a try next and if it scores anything less than 2 stars that will be it. No more second chances for Beth O'Leary. If I could rate it lower than 1 star I would.
Graphic: Toxic friendship and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Stalking
Minor: Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Sexual harassment, and Violence
emmawilkins's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Stalking, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Homophobia, Violence, Vomit, Mental illness, and Bullying