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kodiex's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Alcohol
Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Misogyny, Vomit, Grief, and Toxic friendship
blewballoon's review against another edition
emotional
funny
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
I was so excited to read Iris's book in the Bright Falls series! I loved the first book about Claire and Delilah, I loved the second book about Astrid and Jordan even more, and I loved this book as well. Iris plays a bit of a comic relief role in the previous two books, and it was great to see her character expanded in her own perspective and to get more of her history. Stevie really helped highlight the softer and more serious aspects of Iris while also being relatable and compelling in her own right. I found the portrayal of Stevie's anxiety to be well done, I particularly related to her experience of anxiety over the expectations of her loved ones. There were a couple of lines in her chapters that I've said to myself almost exactly. I do have one nitpick, and that's the overuse of "simply" and "just." As in: "she simply smiled" or "she just laughed." It may have been more noticeable on the audiobook, but I do think some of these should have been edited out. Very small nitpick, though! This is a beautiful finale to this series about friendship and love in all forms, I totally teared up at the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Sexual content
Moderate: Mental illness and Vomit
Minor: Infidelity and Toxic relationship
kylieqrada's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
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
This series has my whole heart. I loved Iris as a side character, and was glad to get her love story. I need to reread Delilah and Astrid now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
amandaboyer's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Vomit, and Alcohol
drtx_bwt's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
Moderate: Homophobia and Toxic relationship
Minor: Infidelity
avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Narrator Rating: 3 stars
A fake dating relationship between a woman with severe anxiety and another woman with minimal self-worth and commitment avoidance, somehow becomes something more?
I loved the first two books in this series, but boy this one.
Wow, this book was annoying! I don't know why Stevie didn't try to get on better medication! If you're freaking out that much, change your meds. I'm saying this as someone WITH GAD, and SAD.
I could relate to Stevie and Iris, but they just kept doing the absolute worst things they could do in many situations and I wanted to scream at them!
I don't think the narrator helped as she did the most annoying voice for Stevie and some of the other characters. Which just made the book more infuriating.
Overall, a huge letdown from the previous books.
Extra ratings: Fluff - 3/5 Heartfelt- 4/5 Helpful-NA Horror- 0/5 Inspiration- NA Love aka Romance-4/5 Mystery-0/5 Predictability- 5/5 Spice- 3/5 Suspense- 0/5 Tear 1.5/5 Thrill- 0/5 Humor-2/5
A fake dating relationship between a woman with severe anxiety and another woman with minimal self-worth and commitment avoidance, somehow becomes something more?
I loved the first two books in this series, but boy this one.
Wow, this book was annoying! I don't know why Stevie didn't try to get on better medication! If you're freaking out that much, change your meds. I'm saying this as someone WITH GAD, and SAD.
I could relate to Stevie and Iris, but they just kept doing the absolute worst things they could do in many situations and I wanted to scream at them!
I don't think the narrator helped as she did the most annoying voice for Stevie and some of the other characters. Which just made the book more infuriating.
Overall, a huge letdown from the previous books.
Extra ratings: Fluff - 3/5 Heartfelt- 4/5 Helpful-NA Horror- 0/5 Inspiration- NA Love aka Romance-4/5 Mystery-0/5 Predictability- 5/5 Spice- 3/5 Suspense- 0/5 Tear 1.5/5 Thrill- 0/5 Humor-2/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
mlovesbooks's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-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
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Infidelity
ashisanaquarius's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Infidelity
stacy837's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Infidelity and Vomit
jencolumb0's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
A fitting (necessary?) end to the Bright Falls stories.
This was my least favorite of the books. Blessedly, someone involved tamped down on the tangled fingers, chest openings, and professions of fear before it crossed into “droning on” territory. While I appreciate the pieces of this book - the exploration of anxiety and fear and trust; chosen family versus family of origin; the arc back to NYC; and even the love letter to romance readers that’s baked in - there is something not quite seamless about the presentation of the story as a whole. The characters somehow flatten as the story unfolds, becoming defined by their Thing (with the exception of Adri). Given how much there was to work with going back to the first book and the complex relationships among the women at the core of the Bright Falls crowd, that was . . . disappointing. It’s almost like everyone involved thought to themselves, “it’s been a bit since folks have picked up the last two; let’s just let Ashley work through a few things here, put a rainbow-colored bow on the warm glow of Bright Falls, and move along before anyone picks up on the fact that it doesn’t quite line up.”
While it is, unquestionably, a heartfelt (and spicy) book, it lacks the complexity of the prior books, in both subject-matter and character development. The discussion of Stevie’s anxiety bordered on clinical at times. This book also lays bare the facts that AHB still has some work to do to (a) move past the performance of including “diverse” characters to . . . actually including them, and (b) move through her sophomore queer status of rainbows! Everywhere! (Yes, there are a tremendous number of places - far too many, in fact - in which queer people are not accepted as who we are and need a swaddle of rainbows/other identity flags to signal safety. HOWEVER, the modern, upper middle class, PNW white world that this crowd inhabits, where the story takes place, is not one of those places. For a story that did not involve people coming to understand their own identity/a shift therein - they both had several years of being out under their belts - the preoccupation with rainbows felt out of synch with that reality.)
So, alright. Tick mark entered. Next?
This was my least favorite of the books. Blessedly, someone involved tamped down on the tangled fingers, chest openings, and professions of fear before it crossed into “droning on” territory. While I appreciate the pieces of this book - the exploration of anxiety and fear and trust; chosen family versus family of origin; the arc back to NYC; and even the love letter to romance readers that’s baked in - there is something not quite seamless about the presentation of the story as a whole. The characters somehow flatten as the story unfolds, becoming defined by their Thing (with the exception of Adri). Given how much there was to work with going back to the first book and the complex relationships among the women at the core of the Bright Falls crowd, that was . . . disappointing. It’s almost like everyone involved thought to themselves, “it’s been a bit since folks have picked up the last two; let’s just let Ashley work through a few things here, put a rainbow-colored bow on the warm glow of Bright Falls, and move along before anyone picks up on the fact that it doesn’t quite line up.”
While it is, unquestionably, a heartfelt (and spicy) book, it lacks the complexity of the prior books, in both subject-matter and character development. The discussion of Stevie’s anxiety bordered on clinical at times. This book also lays bare the facts that AHB still has some work to do to (a) move past the performance of including “diverse” characters to . . . actually including them, and (b) move through her sophomore queer status of rainbows! Everywhere! (Yes, there are a tremendous number of places - far too many, in fact - in which queer people are not accepted as who we are and need a swaddle of rainbows/other identity flags to signal safety. HOWEVER, the modern, upper middle class, PNW white world that this crowd inhabits, where the story takes place, is not one of those places. For a story that did not involve people coming to understand their own identity/a shift therein - they both had several years of being out under their belts - the preoccupation with rainbows felt out of synch with that reality.)
So, alright. Tick mark entered. Next?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Alcohol