Scan barcode
venetiana's review
- 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
3.25
Also, I really didn't appreciate how some heavy and violent stuff was only dealt with and "solved" in passing, like the topic wasn't serious.
Still, some good/cute things inbetween.
A smaller but real bummer: there did not need to be any H*rry P*tter mentions in this book (why do we need to reference a transphobe's work??!!), and there were several. No thank youuu.
Graphic: Violence, Medical content, and Gun violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Sexual content, and Torture
Minor: Blood, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Stalking, Transphobia, Grief, Outing, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Vomit, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Fatphobia
fanboyriot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Read for:
♡ Idiots in Love
♡ Crime Family
♡ Only One Bed
♡ Forbidden Romance
♡ Angst with a Happy Ending
I enjoyed this book. It was a simple and cute story with forbidden romance vibes. The main characters were cute together.
However, it did kinda feel like it was missing something. There was little backstories and I think parts just kinda felt bland; not to mention the dialogue felt a bit forced at times.
It's a good book to binge read. The angst is light and there were way more wholesome vibes than I was expecting. And so many music and movie mentions, which I always appreciate.
Spice: 🌶
(First Person POV)
Rep: Gay MC, Gay LI
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Mental illness
Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Sexual content, Death of parent, Homophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, and War
emmasbelovedbooks's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gun violence, War, and Bullying
Moderate: Sexual content, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Body shaming, Death of parent, Medical content, Genocide, Kidnapping, Outing, Murder, Torture, Vomit, Bullying, Car accident, and Violence
sauvageloup's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Pros:
- the premise is brilliant and it had such good potential, it just doesn't hit it
- i did like Luke being a supportive brother, his and Matt's relationship was cool
- i did find myself vaguely smiling at Matt and Jason's cuteness at times
- it did go by fast, but that was just the simple writing i think
cons:
- THE WRITING. it's just really flat, there's way too many sentence breaks, the dialogue is so dull. real life talking might be full of awkwardness and 'bye.' 'okay, bye' type dialogue but you can't write a book like that. it doesn't work. there's SO much telling all the time, too. everything we hear about the characters, we're told.
- Jason and Matt's early friendship was incredibly second-hand awkward, it just doesn't work like that. I get that it's hard to write that early part of a relationship, but that's a writer's job
- there's very little plot at all and it's not gripping.
- as others have said, the ending was really unsatifying. Matt's dad didn't give a shit about Matt leaving, and i didn't get that Luke already knew about Matt being gay or bi and never said anything. as another review said, it felt like they treated it like a difference in career, not choosing to reject a life of murder. Matt's dad was totally chill with it, it was really weird and made the main conflict throughout the whole book seem pointless.
- Matt also is apparently fine with just leaving. no concern for keeping his family safe, or the Donovans either. and it just so happens that his dad goes from deciding to murder them all to just.. not. I thought a way better ending would've been Matt telling Jason's mum about the meeting and getting them all arrested. way more angst and conflict.
- Matt kinda has some PTSD symptoms from what he sees, but there's no long-term repercussions of this in his new life, it's just sorted.
- others also talked about the lack of realism of it being a mafia/crime family and just, yeah.
So, i was disappointed by this one. The writing didn't live up to the premise and i just feel a bit sad that it wasn't better.
Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Torture
greatu's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Torture
Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, and Death of parent