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hannalizzy's review against another edition
challenging
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
This book is the trainwreck you can’t look away from. Hot garbage. Toxic toxic toxic abusive and toxic. The writing feels like Twilight/Mormon propaganda with some wet dreams sprinkled throughout. Hardin wrote the book on gaslighting.
and yet I ate it up, left zero crumbs, and am requesting the next book on libby. I AM BUT A WOMAN and this book was honestly fucking hilarious.
and yet I ate it up, left zero crumbs, and am requesting the next book on libby. I AM BUT A WOMAN and this book was honestly fucking hilarious.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcohol, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship
patriciahanna's review against another edition
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Here’s the thing. I have a love hate relationship with this book. As in, I don’t know if I love to hate it or that I hate that I love it.
It’s not good, per say. I definitely wouldn’t consider it a literary masterpiece, but I couldn’t put it down. It is just so chaotic and toxic. It’s like watching a car crash and not being able to look away. Regardless, I’ve already bought the rest of the series.
3.5/5 🌶️
It’s not good, per say. I definitely wouldn’t consider it a literary masterpiece, but I couldn’t put it down. It is just so chaotic and toxic. It’s like watching a car crash and not being able to look away. Regardless, I’ve already bought the rest of the series.
3.5/5 🌶️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Alcoholism
leanniefae's review
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book sucked me in but it just wasn't as good as I'd heard. Gaslighting all over the place, but the final twist explained pretty much all of that. I don't think I'll read any of the sequels because I imagine I'd be furious with the main characters the entire time. Maybe once Todd finishes the graphic novels, I'll read those. The first one was good enough that I read the actual novel!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Rape, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence
thebookpaiges's review
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Infidelity, Blood, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Alcoholism, and Physical abuse
What in the harry styles fanfic was that shit….?pleigh02's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Infidelity, Sexual content, Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Addiction
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Panic attacks/disorders
readingduckling's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.25
Well first the one good thing I have to say about it was it was not boring, it was tedious anoing and tiering but not boring.
Every character in this book is absolutely toxic beginning with the main character, she seemed to like it to make everyones life difficult and provoce people in her proximity just to feel like the 'main character' I think the author wanted the reader to relate to this character but she was just a jackass.
Every friend and love interest ist also toxic in their own special way and in very depressed need of therapy.
Just like every adult mentioned in this story.
The writing style was sloppy the author was repeating the same words in a sentence, except for using euphemism so at least the writing style wouldn't feel that repetitive. But I think this is to much to ask. The story it self was also repetitive every chapter/part of the story was the same. The main character fights with the main love interest, they fight they make up, they make up, they do something sexual and then the circle stars over again. I was more than annoyed reading this book because ist was the same thing 100x over and over and over again.
If you are now wondering, why I didn't stop reading it, it was because some friends and coworkers recommended this book and wanted me to read it; 'because it's sooooo good'. It really wasn't!
First I thought maybe I didn't like the book because it's young adult, but that doesn't make any sense, because I often read young adult books that I really enjoy (my first 5 out of 5 book this year was a young adult book). And about half of the people recommending this book to me are older than I am.
In a way I am really shocked, that this bullshit, is a young adult book because I think it would be dangerous for young people to read this book (- series) they get the wrong idea of what a relationship in any definition of the word should look like. I don't have a a problem with toxic relationships being presented in books for teens/kids/young adults but than it should be clear that it is toxic. It doesn't happen in this book at all.
And I have a problem with this book that resembles a problem with the 50 shades series, it has a relationship that resembles a Dom/sup dynamic but has nothing that is important in this kinds of relationships, especially no after care.
All in all it is a disgrace that anyone was ever able to make money with this story, I will most definitely not read it again, I do not ever recommend reading it to everyone. And I will not read the other books in this series, or consume everything else realated to this.
Every character in this book is absolutely toxic beginning with the main character, she seemed to like it to make everyones life difficult and provoce people in her proximity just to feel like the 'main character' I think the author wanted the reader to relate to this character but she was just a jackass.
Every friend and love interest ist also toxic in their own special way and in very depressed need of therapy.
Just like every adult mentioned in this story.
The writing style was sloppy the author was repeating the same words in a sentence, except for using euphemism so at least the writing style wouldn't feel that repetitive. But I think this is to much to ask. The story it self was also repetitive every chapter/part of the story was the same. The main character fights with the main love interest, they fight they make up, they make up, they do something sexual and then the circle stars over again. I was more than annoyed reading this book because ist was the same thing 100x over and over and over again.
If you are now wondering, why I didn't stop reading it, it was because some friends and coworkers recommended this book and wanted me to read it; 'because it's sooooo good'. It really wasn't!
First I thought maybe I didn't like the book because it's young adult, but that doesn't make any sense, because I often read young adult books that I really enjoy (my first 5 out of 5 book this year was a young adult book). And about half of the people recommending this book to me are older than I am.
In a way I am really shocked, that this bullshit, is a young adult book because I think it would be dangerous for young people to read this book (- series) they get the wrong idea of what a relationship in any definition of the word should look like. I don't have a a problem with toxic relationships being presented in books for teens/kids/young adults but than it should be clear that it is toxic. It doesn't happen in this book at all.
And I have a problem with this book that resembles a problem with the 50 shades series, it has a relationship that resembles a Dom/sup dynamic but has nothing that is important in this kinds of relationships, especially no after care.
All in all it is a disgrace that anyone was ever able to make money with this story, I will most definitely not read it again, I do not ever recommend reading it to everyone. And I will not read the other books in this series, or consume everything else realated to this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Gaslighting
itsmemiana's review
medium-paced
- 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
2.5
disclaimer: I read this on Wattpad which is where the author first posted this book, and I heard the published edition is slightly different so this review is solely based of of the Wattpad edition.
I was really disappointed by this... specially since it's really popular... and I watched the first movie when it came out and I actually liked it (didn't love it but liked it yk)... but the book was just not it. In fact I really don't know if I wanna read the rest, I'm a little curious to what happens next because the book definitely got more interesting towards the end but still idk if I want to put myself through that, we'll see... they're all on Wattpad as far as I know so I can read them for free so we'll see if I decide to read at least one more.
the characters were very meh, and the main relationship was toxic as hell. for example Hardin had A LOT of red flags, like for every green flag he had, there were another 10 red flags. and I don't see many people talking about this because out of the two of them Hardin was definitely worst, but Tessa was toxic too.
this book constantly slut-shames (Tessa does that a lot) and basically makes it seem like virgins are better than everyone else (note that I actually am a virgin, and not ashamed, at the time I'm writing this review and I obviously didn't find this amusing at all).
and yeah the two main characters were cute sometimes but they always went back to being toxic, specially Hardin, I couldn't stand him most of the time.
if I do decide to read another one of these books I hope there's A LOT of character development, because it's very much needed.
I was really disappointed by this... specially since it's really popular... and I watched the first movie when it came out and I actually liked it (didn't love it but liked it yk)... but the book was just not it. In fact I really don't know if I wanna read the rest, I'm a little curious to what happens next because the book definitely got more interesting towards the end but still idk if I want to put myself through that, we'll see... they're all on Wattpad as far as I know so I can read them for free so we'll see if I decide to read at least one more.
the characters were very meh, and the main relationship was toxic as hell. for example Hardin had A LOT of red flags, like for every green flag he had, there were another 10 red flags. and I don't see many people talking about this because out of the two of them Hardin was definitely worst, but Tessa was toxic too.
this book constantly slut-shames (Tessa does that a lot) and basically makes it seem like virgins are better than everyone else (note that I actually am a virgin, and not ashamed, at the time I'm writing this review and I obviously didn't find this amusing at all).
and yeah the two main characters were cute sometimes but they always went back to being toxic, specially Hardin, I couldn't stand him most of the time.
if I do decide to read another one of these books I hope there's A LOT of character development, because it's very much needed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Cursing, and Mental illness
Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, and Vomit
andriaspyrou's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I read this book twice: once when I was 15 or 16 and once recently. When I read it, I instantly loved it and fell in love with both Hardin and Tessa. I still love this book, after so many years. It’s definitely one of my favorites, even though the writing isn’t great. Let’s be honest: the writing is probably horrible. There are so many unnecessary details at times and I’m sure if those were written off when edited, the book would be much more enjoyable and easier to read. But I understand that this was written on wattpad, so that’s why I didn’t expect much from the writing anyway.
I love the romance between Tessa and Hardin. It’s undeniably one of my favorite love stories. They have their ups and downs, they’re so different but somehow so perfect for each other.
Even though Hardin was a real prick with many issues, you just couldn’t not like him and sympathize with him. Yes, their relationship is very toxic and Hardin is basically a walking red flag, but you just can’t stop reading about their romance. I have to say that sometimes Tessa was in the wrong, it wasn’t always Hardin’s fault. But in comparison to how Hardin was behaving through the whole relationship, Tessa was an angel.
The ending had me in shock when I first read the book because for me it was quite unexpected. A major plot twist. I felt so sorry for Tessa and was so pissed at Hardin and basically everyone in that friend group (especially Steph). Very childish and cruel to do that to a person.
If the writing was better, it would be definitely be a 5⭐️ for me. But because I still love this book so much, I’m giving it a 4,5⭐️.
*Also have to mention that I was and still am a One Direction and Harry Styles fan so that’s basically the reason why I read this book. And probably the reason why I feel so attached to it*
I love the romance between Tessa and Hardin. It’s undeniably one of my favorite love stories. They have their ups and downs, they’re so different but somehow so perfect for each other.
Even though Hardin was a real prick with many issues, you just couldn’t not like him and sympathize with him. Yes, their relationship is very toxic and Hardin is basically a walking red flag, but you just can’t stop reading about their romance. I have to say that sometimes Tessa was in the wrong, it wasn’t always Hardin’s fault. But in comparison to how Hardin was behaving through the whole relationship, Tessa was an angel.
The ending had me in shock when I first read the book because for me it was quite unexpected. A major plot twist. I felt so sorry for Tessa and was so pissed at Hardin and basically everyone in that friend group (especially Steph). Very childish and cruel to do that to a person.
If the writing was better, it would be definitely be a 5⭐️ for me. But because I still love this book so much, I’m giving it a 4,5⭐️.
*Also have to mention that I was and still am a One Direction and Harry Styles fan so that’s basically the reason why I read this book. And probably the reason why I feel so attached to it*
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Rape, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Addiction, Toxic relationship, and Violence
coffeewithsherry's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Based on One-direction fanfiction back in the days of Wattpad. I hadn't known that when I started this book. It is a typical story of bad boy meets good girl. However, I must say their relationship is quite uncomfortable and I truly believe they don't belong together as much as many others play out the characters.
Hardin is an extremely toxic character. On the other hand, Tessa cannot communicate at all. They simply don't belong together and some of the scenes inside this book are really uncomfortable. Yet it might be a fantasy for some teens but if anything treats each other like this in real life it is a run for the hills, please.
As always, Hardin has issues and Tessa is the girl that thinks she can fix him. A very stereotypical plotline but the execution was a miss for me. Especially this one scene that I find the most disturbing and disgusting.
The scene where he takes her virginity to win the bet and receive his money from his friends. Showed them the bloodstain on the bed sheets. This scene made me gag and so uncomfortable. You might say 'Oh but he needed the money or he wanted to show his friends for his ego boost'. It is disgusting and it is weirder than some people's fantasy of Hardin as a character. I am even more surprised they made a movie from this. I personally haven't watched it myself and do not plan to because of this scene in the book. Even after this scene, you would think she doesn't take him back but of course, she does!!! And she takes him back after a couple of pages!!!
Overall, did not enjoy it. Did not like. Dislike the characters. No character development. It is dark and emotionally exhausting. If I had a friend like the main character I would drop her as a friend. If I knew someone like Hardin, I would send him to therapy.
Hardin is an extremely toxic character. On the other hand, Tessa cannot communicate at all. They simply don't belong together and some of the scenes inside this book are really uncomfortable. Yet it might be a fantasy for some teens but if anything treats each other like this in real life it is a run for the hills, please.
As always, Hardin has issues and Tessa is the girl that thinks she can fix him. A very stereotypical plotline but the execution was a miss for me. Especially this one scene that I find the most disturbing and disgusting.
Overall, did not enjoy it. Did not like. Dislike the characters. No character development. It is dark and emotionally exhausting. If I had a friend like the main character I would drop her as a friend. If I knew someone like Hardin, I would send him to therapy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Rape
izzyf16's review
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Alcoholism