Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Window Shopping

Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey

78 reviews

readwithelle's review

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lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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roorooreads's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

That was so stinking cute! I didn't know much about this book before going in but it was still not what I was expecting. I loved the cast of characters so much and of course in typical Tessa Bailey fashion it was super steamy too.

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carleyhall's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is the second Tessa Bailey book I’ve read, the first being It Happened One Summer. While this book was enjoyable and an easy read, it felt too short for my liking. The grumpy sunshine dynamic being applied in where the woman is the grumpy one and the man the sunny one was a nice change of pace from most books in the romance genre. I found Stella to be a very intriguing character and enjoyed the uniqueness of her storyline for a romance novel. I’m not very fond of the “insta love” dynamic that occurred between Aiden and Stella, however. It was clearly a product of the book’s short nature, which I felt also affected some of the plot development in a negative way. I didn’t enjoy this one as much as It Happened One Summer, but it was a nice holiday read and I fully cannot wait for Hook, Line, and Sinker to be released.

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kirareadssometimes's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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sarahsthoughtsonbooks's review

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challenging emotional lighthearted tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

While I have many thoughts, I'm going with what might be the most controversial for those that have read quite a few Tessa Bailey books. It could have been a closed door romance, and it might have possibly worked better that way. I know that many of Bailey's fans would likely be upset if they picked up her book and there was no sex. However, I feel that Bailey was trying too hard to show that Aiden was angel on the streets/devil in the sheets. The sex scenes for the most part took me out of the story. They were well written, so it wasn't that, it just seemed out of character for the protagonist.

At least in the US, this is one of Bailey's self-published novels (I think it's traditionally published in the UK, unclear, all I remember is an Instagram post showing that Piatkus had the UK rights), it is unclear what, if any, editing process happened. There just seemed to be inconsistencies, and unexplained things. For example, Aunt Edna. Aiden was shipped off to live with Aunt Edna, but we don't know when, or for how many years. It's Aunt Edna a maternal aunt? Paternal aunt? Then there's the cousin... No mention of his parents and/or what they do.

Also I feel that Aiden is so positive, that it veers on toxic positivity. We see that he understands reality, and that there are issues, but he tries to see only the positive. It didn't quite work for me.

Overall I enjoyed the book, it began great, and the end tied up all the plot points like a bow (as a holiday novella should) - including the boundary setting with Nicole, but the middle was a slog. Let's face it, the side characters are the ones that really saved the book.

Content Notes: mentions of COVID, Stella is a recently released prisoner, toxic relationships, boss-employee relationship, desk sex

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alyssaaskylaar's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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marylinaris's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

I’m a little torn on this one.

On one side this was a quick, fun read. It has a nice grumpy/sunshine romance, an abundance of steamy scenes, and an overall enjoyable plot.

Stella was an interesting character, besides the obvious romantic plot she has to deal with her past jail time, re-entering society and a toxic friendship throughout the book. While these topics were continuously brought up, they are tackled on a very individual level and I felt like both were wrapped up a little too fast and too neatly in the end.

The side characters, of whom there were only a small handful, made for good additions to the story. His family made for a nice side villains, Aiden found more confidence and respect of his employees through. I also enjoyed the little romance plot between to of the side characters, that helped out couple along without taking up too much space or overshadowing the main plot.

Where it gets tricky for me is Aiden.

He is a lovable dork with a wild sexy side. The moment he sees Stella for the first time, he instantly falls for her and would probably score high in an insta-love competition. Based on a ten minute conversation, which was also their first meeting he ends up hiring her over far more qualified people, cool, I can let that slide in the name of romance. I can even let a boss/employee relationships slide, well, normally. But here the constant reinforcement that their relationship is inappropriate was distracting. While Stella also brought this up, it’s mentioned during Aiden’s POV to a nauseating degree, that would be great - he is the boss, the one with the power after all - if it didn’t seem like that was part of the turn on for him. There was just something very unsexy about them making out to a constant stream of thoughts about the inappropriateness of their actions.

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