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pkc's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
fast-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? No
5.0
This was such a charming but sad book, in the end. A gorgeous story of friendship, a celebration of found family and never giving up on what you want. Keep some tissues by you though. It is SAD at times. It’s also really funny in places too.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Suicide, Blood, Body shaming, Cancer, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Dementia, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Fatphobia
nisanatreads's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Find me on instagram @imthinkingaboutbooks
Favourite quotes:
'People don't know things unless you tell them.'
'Sometimes you can't solve the problems you've helped to create.'
Eva Martínez-Green, our protagonist, tells the story of her life, the story of searching for a mother, the story of longing for a family. As a child she discovers that there are no baby photos of her, her parents won't answer her questions about their life in Spain before they moved to London and she feels never loved her mother. Questions like 'Where am I from?' and 'What is true love?' will determine her whole life.
I read this book for the bookclub hosted by @hotgirlnovels Sadly I wasn't able to finish it in time for the discussion because I have no time managing skills whatsoever. Nonetheless I attended the meeting because I was curious about what others thought about the characters and I really don't mind spoilers. Turns out the discussion got me even more excited for the last half of the book so I finished it right after.
We talked a bit about the relationship between Eva and Bridget and I thought that it was quite interesting that we all thought it might turn out to be a romantic relationship because of how often they declare to love each other. Eva also makes this distinction of saying 'Love you' instead of 'I love you', and considering that she can't use the 'I' with her long term boyfriend but uses it with Bridget is a strong indicator for the strength of their friendship. I was thinking a lot about this because I wasn't sure if it might be some form of queer baiting to have us think like this. In the end I came to the conclusion that this book is as much about familial love as it is about platonic love and therefore the author must have decided to portray it as such. Also there are gay characters in the form of Billy and Lorenzo so no need to queer bait.
What I loved most about this book is how it introduces us to different archetypes of motherfigures in the form of a children's book. These archetypes stay relevant until the very last page and through Eva we meet different mothers who all in some way fit one of the archetypes. Ultimately we discover that these archetypes only describe the mothers on a surface level because there's so much more to being a mother than a child could ever know. I personally would've liked for the story to delve deeper into the backstory of each mother and show how they got to where we meet them. All things considered it's a very emotional but also heartwarming read that I would absolutely recommend to anyone who needs a bit of light reading with strong female characters
Favourite quotes:
'People don't know things unless you tell them.'
'Sometimes you can't solve the problems you've helped to create.'
Eva Martínez-Green, our protagonist, tells the story of her life, the story of searching for a mother, the story of longing for a family. As a child she discovers that there are no baby photos of her, her parents won't answer her questions about their life in Spain before they moved to London and she feels never loved her mother. Questions like 'Where am I from?' and 'What is true love?' will determine her whole life.
I read this book for the bookclub hosted by @hotgirlnovels Sadly I wasn't able to finish it in time for the discussion because I have no time managing skills whatsoever. Nonetheless I attended the meeting because I was curious about what others thought about the characters and I really don't mind spoilers. Turns out the discussion got me even more excited for the last half of the book so I finished it right after.
We talked a bit about the relationship between Eva and Bridget and I thought that it was quite interesting that we all thought it might turn out to be a romantic relationship because of how often they declare to love each other. Eva also makes this distinction of saying 'Love you' instead of 'I love you', and considering that she can't use the 'I' with her long term boyfriend but uses it with Bridget is a strong indicator for the strength of their friendship. I was thinking a lot about this because I wasn't sure if it might be some form of queer baiting to have us think like this. In the end I came to the conclusion that this book is as much about familial love as it is about platonic love and therefore the author must have decided to portray it as such. Also there are gay characters in the form of Billy and Lorenzo so no need to queer bait.
What I loved most about this book is how it introduces us to different archetypes of motherfigures in the form of a children's book. These archetypes stay relevant until the very last page and through Eva we meet different mothers who all in some way fit one of the archetypes. Ultimately we discover that these archetypes only describe the mothers on a surface level because there's so much more to being a mother than a child could ever know. I personally would've liked for the story to delve deeper into the backstory of each mother and show how they got to where we meet them. All things considered it's a very emotional but also heartwarming read that I would absolutely recommend to anyone who needs a bit of light reading with strong female characters
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Abandonment, Cancer, Death of parent, Ableism, and Body shaming
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