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Moderate: Homophobia, Sexism, Abandonment
Minor: Death, Sexual content, Vomit, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia
1. That Joann and Vaness live a peaceful and beautiful life together with Frances and are happy forever 🥰
2. That a love like this finds me in this lifetime 🥰
3. That the selfish c*nt Barbara rots in hell 🥰
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
I got this book on the strength of the author's name, without knowing anything about the story. I had equally loved Daisy Jones and the Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but this must be her best yet. Why else would I read a book about fictional female astronauts in the NASA space shuttle programme in the early to mid eighties and be utterly absorbed, even though I haven't got a clue about the terminology that's freely banded about?
There are two timelines, the one spanning the years in the NASA training programme, and the one day in December 1984 when tragedy strikes, and the start of which opens the book. While you're reading the space rescue story you don't want it to pause and when it switches to the love story, that soft, swooning romance, you don't want it to end either. And that is the mark of a great storyteller. I loved all the characters, Griff, Hank, Donna, Frances, even Lydia. Ok, maybe not Barbara and Daniel, they were awful parents.
I loved the short chapters that made it impossible for me to stop reading. I was rooting for Joan and Vanessa from the beginning, and there was always an undercurrent of tension - will they get the life they want? And that ending, oh my God, it nearly broke me. I ended up in floods of tears at 3am. This has to become a movie. If I could have given six stars, I would. Such an emotional story so beautifully told, about our passions and our place in the world - to find where we can belong. Bravo. Read if you love Hidden Figures and Apollo 13, coupled with found family and lesbians.
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Vomit, Grief, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Homophobia, Sexism, Vomit, Abandonment, Alcohol
Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Vomit, Pregnancy, Alcohol
Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Racism, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Homophobia, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Abandonment, Alcohol
Minor: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Death of parent, Pregnancy
Graphic: Homophobia, Abandonment
Moderate: Death, Sexism, Alcohol
Minor: Pregnancy
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Vomit, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol
Minor: Drug use, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Sexism, Lesbophobia
Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Vomit
Minor: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Abandonment
But
What I loved about Carrie Soto was the full immersion into the tennis world. This was almost that, and all of the, albeit beautiful, bits with Frances were just heartbreaking and took away from the story.
As I said repeatedly while reading: it was a beautifully written book that I was having a miserable time reading.
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Vomit, Grief, Pregnancy