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fictionaladventures's review against another edition
medium-paced
- 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
The way I pick my reads is I give a friend of mine a range of numbers that represents my TBR, and I read whatever book corresponds to the number she chooses. When she chose this book, I was honestly like 🙄🙄🙄 I was just not in the mood for contemporary, and if this book hadn’t been on my TBR for ages I wouldn’t even be interested in reading it at this point. So, I went into this fully expecting to DNF it.
But I DIDN’T. It actually hooked me, and as I read on, I liked it more and more. It wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read or anything, but I liked it faaaaar more than I expected. If I’m not reading fantasy or horror, it needs to be a fluffy romcom—more serious contemporaries aren’t my style anymore. But this was good! The characters were well fleshed out, I 100% believed Porter and Bailey’s romance (it’s annoying when you don’t know why two characters even like each other, but I totally felt their chemistry). It did get a little steamier than I prefer, especially for YA, but otherwise I definitely enjoyed it.
Trigger warnings for gun violence!!
But I DIDN’T. It actually hooked me, and as I read on, I liked it more and more. It wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read or anything, but I liked it faaaaar more than I expected. If I’m not reading fantasy or horror, it needs to be a fluffy romcom—more serious contemporaries aren’t my style anymore. But this was good! The characters were well fleshed out, I 100% believed Porter and Bailey’s romance (it’s annoying when you don’t know why two characters even like each other, but I totally felt their chemistry). It did get a little steamier than I prefer, especially for YA, but otherwise I definitely enjoyed it.
Trigger warnings for gun violence!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence
Moderate: Sexual content
theespressoedition's review against another edition
challenging
tense
fast-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
1.5
After just a day or two of thinking about this book, I felt it necessary to lower the rating from 2.5 to 1.5 stars. This book made me so uncomfortable that even as I write this review, I can feel my shoulders begin to rise up around my ears in an unpleasant way.
First and foremost: this book should not be YA. If you aged up the female protagonist just a year and a half, it would've been NA or adult and that would've been much more suitable. Seeing as it is YA, my rating should hopefully make a bit more sense once I get into the details.
The content in this book is heavy. It's under the guise of being a cute, You've Got Mail kind of thing. Online friends who meet IRL but don't realize who the other person is. You know the drill. But now that you're imagining the kind of adorable confusion and mystery, add in the fact that the love interest was attacked by a shark as a kid and has the scars to prove it (both physically and emotionally) and the MC was kidnapped and shot as a child, giving her severe PTSD. OH, and the best friend of the love interest is a major drug addict who likes to just take a shotgun places and scare the crap out of people while high. YEAH. Not a cute, YA romcom.
As someone with my own fears of gun violence, I felt on edge the entire time I read this book. There were scenes I had to skim entirely just because of the discomfort. This is written for a younger audience and at nearly 30, I could barely handle it. Again I say, this should not be YA.
If you're looking for something fun, summer-y, and cute, look the other way. This isn't it.
First and foremost: this book should not be YA. If you aged up the female protagonist just a year and a half, it would've been NA or adult and that would've been much more suitable. Seeing as it is YA, my rating should hopefully make a bit more sense once I get into the details.
The content in this book is heavy. It's under the guise of being a cute, You've Got Mail kind of thing. Online friends who meet IRL but don't realize who the other person is. You know the drill. But now that you're imagining the kind of adorable confusion and mystery, add in the fact that the love interest was attacked by a shark as a kid and has the scars to prove it (both physically and emotionally) and the MC was kidnapped and shot as a child, giving her severe PTSD. OH, and the best friend of the love interest is a major drug addict who likes to just take a shotgun places and scare the crap out of people while high. YEAH. Not a cute, YA romcom.
As someone with my own fears of gun violence, I felt on edge the entire time I read this book. There were scenes I had to skim entirely just because of the discomfort. This is written for a younger audience and at nearly 30, I could barely handle it. Again I say, this should not be YA.
If you're looking for something fun, summer-y, and cute, look the other way. This isn't it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Addiction, Gun violence, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Death, and Grief
In-depth stories of a shark attack and also of a shootingmaya_shaffer's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual content, Gun violence, and Drug abuse
tkatt20's review against another edition
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- 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
4.5
This was such a cute book and I did not want to put it down. I thought the characters were really cute and they all had a really cool dynamic with each other and it sort of had an enemies to lovers thing going which is always a plus. I really liked that the main love interest wasn't painted to be perfect in every way like some romance books do, and the main character actually taking responsibility for her actions made it even better. This book also handle trauma and ptsd very well for a YA book and it showed the struggles that the different characters had to deal with
It would have been a 5 star book for me but I wasn't really enamored by the writing style but it was really cute and made me feel like this story was being told to me by a best friend so it wasn't a huge deal to me. I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick summer read or someone really into romance.
It would have been a 5 star book for me but I wasn't really enamored by the writing style but it was really cute and made me feel like this story was being told to me by a best friend so it wasn't a huge deal to me. I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick summer read or someone really into romance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Sexual content
ifersinklings's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Minor: Confinement and Death
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