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heather_freshparchment's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Car accident, Infidelity, Child death, and Grief
Moderate: Vomit, Pregnancy, and Infertility
Minor: Cancer
emilywemily6's review
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This one is hard to rate. I think this is not the romance for me. The bus stop moment at the very beginning and the very last scene both made my heart melt, but I didn’t really enjoy anything in the middle. It did not feel like a romance to me because the book spanned across 9-10 years and basically showcased defining moments in the lives of these characters. It felt more like a general fiction with a romance subplot. But even then, I did NOT like Jack as a person. He’s honestly terrible. And I wasn’t really a fan of Laurie either. This book felt like I was reading about realistic, messy people, but I didn’t care about these characters or connect with them. The tropes of fated mates/soul mates is not one I am on board with personally when it comes to romance. I didn’t see the chemistry between the characters either. Others have mentioned that there is a lot of emotional cheating and putting a toe across the boundary line and I was not ok with that. Jack was way worse at it than Laurie, who actually tried to build a life even though it was clear that Oscar and her were not living in the same world. This book had almost nothing I like in a romance. I also feel like it was lacking in holiday/December vibes. While I liked how everything was split up into years and dates, it made it hard to keep track of where we were in the timeline (i.e. how long so-and-so had been engaged, how many years it had been since the bus stop meeting, etc.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Classism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Grief, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Alcohol, and Bullying
Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Infertility
Minor: Child death, Medical content, and Pregnancy
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