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angrybookworm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I was honestly a little disappointed by this book. I really liked the concept but it took me a longggggg time to care about the characters at all. I felt like I couldn't relate to either of them very much until about halfway through the book. A lot of Maeve's character felt like it was made more complicated than it needed to be for these things to happen. I have no idea why her having been ill as a child was important to her story at all. I hated Stuart from the very first time he was mentioned and I was right. I wish the ending was more satisfying because once we got into the very real complications of these characters and I started to think they were interesting, they just wrapped everything up and everything was "okay" in the end without anyone actually doing anything to get there. I do think it's a good book, I just wanted more out of these characters because I think they deserved it. I also really think they should have drowned Stuart in the river at the end. It would have been satisfying Though, I do wonder if maybe the reason the ending wasn't satisyfing is because it was a realistic ending. That is kind of how those things tend to go and I think a lot of my wishing is that I was in Maeve's position once and I wish someone had DROWNED HIM instead of just not doing anything about it really. The mom deserved better, too. Stuart deserved worse.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Death, and Terminal illness
Minor: War, Homophobia, and Sexual violence
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