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ezwolf's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
3.0
I love reincarnation stories and I went in to this with high hopes that weren’t quite met.
It was a fun surprise to realize this was based on the origin of the term “cut sleeve”. It isn’t mentioned in the synopsis but a scene about halfway through made me realize and subsequently Google it.
I loved how each incarnation of River and Joey were so different but also so similar. The whole idea of, I loved you (was betrayed by you) so much that we’re reborn over and over, repeating our story, trying to right a wrong. River's sister was a fantastic character and even though the focus of the story was on River and Joey, I would have loved to have seen more of her.
I think my biggest grievance was with the sex scenes. Sex scenes are not a problem on their own, but I felt like they were the worst written parts. Most of the scenes in the first half of the book seemed kind of unintentionally comical to me and continuously and abruptly brought me out of the story. There's a definite tone shift that happens about midway through and they lose the comical edge, but that only helped a little.
I highly recommend checking content warnings for this book. It just skirted the edge of what I am okay reading.
Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!
It was a fun surprise to realize this was based on the origin of the term “cut sleeve”. It isn’t mentioned in the synopsis but a scene about halfway through made me realize and subsequently Google it.
I loved how each incarnation of River and Joey were so different but also so similar. The whole idea of, I loved you (was betrayed by you) so much that we’re reborn over and over, repeating our story, trying to right a wrong. River's sister was a fantastic character and even though the focus of the story was on River and Joey, I would have loved to have seen more of her.
I think my biggest grievance was with the sex scenes. Sex scenes are not a problem on their own, but I felt like they were the worst written parts. Most of the scenes in the first half of the book seemed kind of unintentionally comical to me and continuously and abruptly brought me out of the story. There's a definite tone shift that happens about midway through and they lose the comical edge, but that only helped a little.
I highly recommend checking content warnings for this book. It just skirted the edge of what I am okay reading.
Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Sexual content, Classism, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Body horror, Mental illness, and Animal death
Minor: Abandonment, Ableism, Medical content, Death of parent, Vomit, and Cancer
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