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thisreadingcorner'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
5.0
The crew:
* Julian - octogenarian artist finding that his glamorous youth can’t compensate for a lonely retirement
* Monica - compulsive cafe owner wondering if her ticking clock means her best has come and gone
* Hazard - retired finance douchebag attempting to turn over a new leaf
* Riley - wandering Aussie gardener “going with the flow” through life and love
* Alice - girl boss turned IG mom/trophy wife wondering if her best and come and gone
* Lizzie - admitted busybody hoping to alleviate some of the glaring dysfunction in these folks
* Mary - ******’s **** come to set the record straight
* The background cast, especially Mrs. Wu and her tai chi
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book and there’s not too much I can say without spoiling all the fun, but I really enjoyed this. I found myself rooting for Hazard by the end when he was everything I hate at the beginning (it was the grovel for meee). I loved Monica the whole time. Julian was a menace. Riley was predictably self-involved (dictionary definition Himbo), and the other ladies were window dressing. Alice’s sections made me realize I’m good on reading that brand of reflection on motherhood as someone entirely divested 🤷🏾♀️
Read it and tell me what you thought!
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Death of parent, Sexual content, and Infidelity
sea_tea_books's review against another edition
3.0
This story started off strong, yet eventually fell back into the tired tropes of miscommunication, assumptions, and missed connections.
Audiobook-specific issue: the narrator didn't leave a pause between time jumps so two different timeframes blended into one.
I deducted a star when
3 ⭐
Graphic: Alcohol, Addiction, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Death of parent, Abandonment, and Death
sarahaustinf'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
4.0
Took off one star because didn’t like the last ~20% of the book so much. Will look forward to reading anything else she writes!
Moderate: Addiction and Alcoholism
Minor: Death of parent
viwilliams'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
5.0
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Minor: Cancer, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Infidelity, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Grief
books_withblooms'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: Addiction
Moderate: Grief, Alcoholism, Drug use, Death, Cursing, Cancer, Death of parent, and Drug abuse
toves_bokhylla's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Mental illness, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Outing
joensign's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Death of parent, and Grief
melancholymegs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Drug use, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, and Grief
Minor: Sexual content, Outing, Body shaming, Homophobia, Cursing, and Cancer
imreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Riley was done dirty, the only character I really liked by the end. I felt awful for how constantly undermined and patronised he was. The lesson on (just paraphrasing, don't you'd this against me) "just because he's a happy person doesn't make him simple or sweet" whatever it was.
Monica, who I actually liked at the beginning of this book, has some unresolved internalised misogyny. I don't know if I'm misread anything, but I found her hostility to some of the women in this book as frustrating, and her view on feminism is extremely flawed. I can't help but feel bad for her. To anyone who needs to hear this, it's okay if you want a baby; it doesn't make you less of a feminist or a woman if you want those things.
Lastly, as much as I hate Max, Alice deserved to have her ending and leave Max. <\spoiler>
I'm not sure if didn't enjoy this book so much because my expectations of it were too high and I expected it to be something that it wasn't, if so. My bad. This might be the book for you,
I unfortunately didn't enjoy it. And as for the author, I'm sorry for the 1 star review.
Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism
Moderate: Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Infidelity
Minor: Misogyny
Misogynistic tones can be picked up from time to time. The other content warnings are very detailed and appear very frequently.librariangeorgia'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
It’s not something I thought I would enjoy but I was completely wrapped up in every characters story.
It’s a lighthearted, easy read whilst exploring tough topics like addiction, loneliness and mental illness.
I highly recommend this, even if it’s not your usual type of book!
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Death, and Mental illness
Minor: Homophobia, Cancer, and Death of parent