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iam_aquaman's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcohol, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Racism, and Infidelity
onefineelephant's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Alcohol, Addiction, Alcoholism, Racism, and Infidelity
wardenred's review
- 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
Alex has been helping me become the person I thought you would like, but… I guess I ended up becoming, well… me.
In many ways, this was the perfect college freshman romcom with plenty of moments that made me smile and truly wonderful characters. I really felt for both leads: Alex who wore her "air-headed flirt" mask like armor, and Molly on her journey to get out of her shell and get her social anxiety under control. I loved the slow, gradual development of their relationship, how they went from mostly reluctant allies to frenemies to best friends, and that period when they were totally oblivious about falling for each other. I really loved how, while they faced such different struggles and came from such different backgrounds, they were able to see and empathize with each other's dark moments.
At the same time, I felt kind of bad for Cora, Molly's initial "dream girl," because let's face it, Alex and Molly basically manipulated her into believing Molly was a rather different person from who she really was, and then Molly had her moment of revelation just as Cora was catching feelings for a pretty fantasy. Yes, there's a nice irony here—Cora was Molly's pretty fantasy for a long while, but it's not like Cora made an actual choice to present herself as somebody she wasn't, unlike Molly. And hey, it's logical and realistic! Figuring yourself out as a teenager is a rocky road. You're bound to make mistakes and hurt others along the way. But this storyline is one of the reasons I really wish there was one more chapter or an epilogue showing the aftermath and the delayed resolution. (The other reason is that I would love a few pages of seeing Molly and Alex as an established couple.) As it was, the book ended kind of... almost abruptly.
When it comes to the two main plot strands, I feel like Molly's storyline was a little more balanced. All the parts of it—her mooning over Cora, her struggles to fit in in college, her relationships with her family and the way her Mom's internalized racism impacted her, her slowly developing feelings for Alex, her journey to becoming more assertive—painted a coherent picture. Alex's storyline seemed a little weaker in terms of structure. I really liked the parts about her mother's alcoholism, her family life, and the relationship she's built with her boss Jim. But the plotline about her now ex-girlfriend Natalie could have been handled better in terms of laying out the events. I feel like there should have been more clues that Alex wasn't the only problem in that relationship; for a while I thought Natalie was just taking their falling out really, really hard, not just... being herself. Then again, maybe that's on me and my attention span!
Graphic: Alcoholism
Minor: Infidelity and Racism
uneyreads's review
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Bullying, Infidelity, and Cursing
sarah984's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Racism, Classism, Infidelity, and Sexual content
jayecard's review against another edition
In concept, Alex is a woman with commitment issues due to emotional trauma who struggles to make relationships work. In practice, she's a walking red flag who finds it "challenging" not to "accidentally" flirt with other girls.
In concept, Molly is an awkward goody two shoes who can't talk to her crush. In practice, she gives up at any minor inconvenience to feel sorry for herself, then thinks that she shouldn't do that, and then does it again.
I like flawed characters. I do not like it when I'm meant to sympathize with characters who know exactly what their problem in life is and then do nothing about it anyway. It's "okay", because those problems go away when they meet each other. And I absolutely hate how this book treated Alex's and Molly's false love interests: One has her character retconned entirely, the other gets strung along all story and then left standing alone with no explanation.
The dialogue is just forced enough to feel off. The way Molly is put in egretiously awkward situations for the sake of making her look like a sad puppy gets annoying way too fast. Bestie, you're not the doormat, you're a floor black hole. The only person sabotaging her is herself, yet it feels like we're meant to sympathize with her for all the hard situations she's in. Girl, if you went to sit in the back, because your crush didn't hear you when you asked: "Is this seat taken?", then you most literally only have yourself to blame. I know it's hard, but at some point, you have to put in the effort. Which is her entire character arc, which becomes all the more insufferable by how she knows EXACTLY that this is her problem from the very beginning, and then spends the entire book doing fuckall about it, until Alex literally forces her.
There are redeeming qualities in this book, but I was looking for a cute queer read, and I got so thoroughly disappointed and had to DNF (I skimmed the rest) the book and go write an angry rant. If you want the aesthetics of a cute romance, this is ok. If you want a romance with well written characters, you can find better.
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Infidelity
zombiezami's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Alcohol, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Car accident and Abandonment
Minor: Racism, Vomit, Sexual content, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Infidelity, and Xenophobia
Neglectmallory10100's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Car accident, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, and Addiction
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racism, and Infidelity
Minor: Sexual harassment
aliciarosales's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Car accident, Infidelity, and Gaslighting
Minor: Bullying
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Alcoholism
Moderate: Racism, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Car accident, Abandonment, Infidelity, and Sexism