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mishbookish's review
3.0
God I have such a mixed feeling about this book!
TW: Emotional Cheating
I can never make my head wrap around people cheating on their partner but then I have loved @maybesomeday by CoHo and it was something like this.
I liked that they did try to fight it off and their separate reasons to not give up but I sometimes thing that Jamie didn’t want to leave his wife just because he didn’t want to be his dad, otherwise he would have left her at a very early moment.
Same is with Steph, she was in recovery and therapy and this certain emotions were tougher for her to deal with but I don’t get how she was oblivious to read flags Matt showed early on.
If they would have really respected their spark early on they would have let go off their partners before it was complex.
But alas it’s a book and they are fictional for a reason.
What I really loved about this book is how much growth as a character they got to have separately which was the real backbone of this book
TW: Emotional Cheating
I can never make my head wrap around people cheating on their partner but then I have loved @maybesomeday by CoHo and it was something like this.
I liked that they did try to fight it off and their separate reasons to not give up but I sometimes thing that Jamie didn’t want to leave his wife just because he didn’t want to be his dad, otherwise he would have left her at a very early moment.
Same is with Steph, she was in recovery and therapy and this certain emotions were tougher for her to deal with but I don’t get how she was oblivious to read flags Matt showed early on.
If they would have really respected their spark early on they would have let go off their partners before it was complex.
But alas it’s a book and they are fictional for a reason.
What I really loved about this book is how much growth as a character they got to have separately which was the real backbone of this book
ashleegracexo's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
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
3.0
I’m conflicted with this book. I did enjoy the overall writing style and read the book in two sittings which showed I must have enjoyed it to an extent.
Obviously, this book is about cheating and it was hard to like the characters when they were both betraying their partners, I found it especially hard on Helen as I wasn’t keen on Stephanie’s partner Matt.
The ending also annoyed me.
Obviously, this book is about cheating and it was hard to like the characters when they were both betraying their partners, I found it especially hard on Helen as I wasn’t keen on Stephanie’s partner Matt.
The ending also annoyed me.
keebee85's review against another edition
kitty_kat21's review against another edition
2.0
This didn’t meet my expectations unfortunately. No proper sex scenes, so absolutely no thrills whatsoever. FYI, suspension of disbelief will definitely be required. That ending! I felt like topping myself after reading that. Not my cup of tea at all.
latanateran's review against another edition
3.0
I'm giving this book a 3 stars rating , just because it has a topic that I don't like that much which is infidelity... but the ending man I didn't saw that coming ...
jeananneseagraves's review against another edition
3.0
3 stars
A story about 2 people going through their young adult lives figuring out who they are. First, there's Stephanie who has gone through a lot, but is engaged and then married and finally settling down from her crazy college days. She goes to therapy but has trouble opening up. Then there's Jamie, an art teacher married to his high school sweetheart. They meet at the very beginning of the story, establish a connection, and from there they meet once a year over the course of a decade.
This is my first book of the year, and I listened to the audio. Perhaps it was due to the audio, but I just couldn't get into this one. I wanted to cheer for Stephanie, but I just couldn't across the board. Even though Stephanie and Jamie spend so infrequent time with each other, the narration talks about their infidelity so much as if its the only thing going on in their lives (I know, I know, its the story though). We hear more from Stephanie's side, but its mostly just her talking to her therapist. I enjoyed seeing her overcome many of her struggles, but overall I just couldn't take the whole story of her pining for Jamie for so long and yet doing very little about it so as not to hurt anyone (spoiler alert: it still did).
A story about 2 people going through their young adult lives figuring out who they are. First, there's Stephanie who has gone through a lot, but is engaged and then married and finally settling down from her crazy college days. She goes to therapy but has trouble opening up. Then there's Jamie, an art teacher married to his high school sweetheart. They meet at the very beginning of the story, establish a connection, and from there they meet once a year over the course of a decade.
This is my first book of the year, and I listened to the audio. Perhaps it was due to the audio, but I just couldn't get into this one. I wanted to cheer for Stephanie, but I just couldn't across the board. Even though Stephanie and Jamie spend so infrequent time with each other, the narration talks about their infidelity so much as if its the only thing going on in their lives (I know, I know, its the story though). We hear more from Stephanie's side, but its mostly just her talking to her therapist. I enjoyed seeing her overcome many of her struggles, but overall I just couldn't take the whole story of her pining for Jamie for so long and yet doing very little about it so as not to hurt anyone (spoiler alert: it still did).
inked_orca's review against another edition
2.0
There’s cheating and too many exclamation marks (or maybe it’s just me).
karlayrt's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I don't know what to think or say about this book. It wasn't what I expected.
I loved Stephanie and Jamie but sometimes I hated them; well, that's not really fair, I didn't really hated them, I just got mad at them for their decisions.
I really liked Steph's therapy sessions with Jane and how they talked about her life, their relationship therapist-patient was really nice and I think it was well written, how she sometimes cried, but not always, she spent time not going, then came back, Jane rarely told her what was going on and mostly listened and made questions leading her to figure out what she needed to figure out. How she explained the reasons her relationships were how they were, and why she chose as she did; also, Jane's calmness was on point, and really professional.
At times the interactions were a little weird and unnatural, specially in the first interaction between Jamie and Helen, but for most of the book, it was fine.
I don't know what to make of Jamie and Helen's relationship, I believe that Jamie did loved her, but not how he made it sound all the time, and for about half the story it wasn't love, it just wasn't, maybe it was the remnants of his younger self's love for her but not his current one, perhaps it was the comfort of years being together, the feeling of owing loyalty to her for their marriage, for Seb, wanting to give him a family, the guilt of having cheated on her emotionally and sexually, I don't know what he really felt for her or his reason for staying so long, there are to many options and I really wished that the author would have gone deeper into the character, from his childhood traumas to the complexity of his character, we had it with Steph and I think that this helped a lot so that in difficult moments I would be inclined to support and defend her instead of him, despite the fact that they are both protagonists of the story, we don't get a chance to actually know him outside of his love for Steph, and the troubles that love causes in his and his family's life, and feelings, like what about his mother, how is his relationship with her? how does he feel about his dad? on what level has it affected him? even his feeling about Helen and their marriage were surface level.
In conclusion, it was good, it could have been better.
I loved Stephanie and Jamie but sometimes I hated them; well, that's not really fair, I didn't really hated them, I just got mad at them for their decisions.
I really liked Steph's therapy sessions with Jane and how they talked about her life, their relationship therapist-patient was really nice and I think it was well written, how she sometimes cried, but not always, she spent time not going, then came back, Jane rarely told her what was going on and mostly listened and made questions leading her to figure out what she needed to figure out. How she explained the reasons her relationships were how they were, and why she chose as she did; also, Jane's calmness was on point, and really professional.
At times the interactions were a little weird and unnatural, specially in the first interaction between Jamie and Helen, but for most of the book, it was fine.
I don't know what to make of Jamie and Helen's relationship, I believe that Jamie did loved her, but not how he made it sound all the time, and for about half the story it wasn't love, it just wasn't, maybe it was the remnants of his younger self's love for her but not his current one, perhaps it was the comfort of years being together, the feeling of owing loyalty to her for their marriage, for Seb, wanting to give him a family, the guilt of having cheated on her emotionally and sexually, I don't know what he really felt for her or his reason for staying so long, there are to many options and I really wished that the author would have gone deeper into the character, from his childhood traumas to the complexity of his character, we had it with Steph and I think that this helped a lot so that in difficult moments I would be inclined to support and defend her instead of him, despite the fact that they are both protagonists of the story, we don't get a chance to actually know him outside of his love for Steph, and the troubles that love causes in his and his family's life, and feelings, like what about his mother, how is his relationship with her? how does he feel about his dad? on what level has it affected him? even his feeling about Helen and their marriage were surface level.
In conclusion, it was good, it could have been better.
kathis_bookart's review against another edition
3.0
Ich hatte nach dem Klappentext eher geringe Erwartungen an die Story. Deswegen fand ich sie (besonders in der zweiten Hälfte) überraschend tiefgründig und überlegt. Einen Stern Abzug gibt es für die fehlende Diversität, durchgängige Herteronormativität, veraltete Rollenklischees und (meiner Meinung nach) romantisierte Elternschaft. Einen weiteren für die schwächere erste Hälfte des Buches.
(Als Hörbuch gehört)
(Als Hörbuch gehört)