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bdingz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Sexual assault, Acephobia/Arophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Lesbophobia
Mild acephobia but no arophobia. An elderly person experiences a fall and a minor injury and there are a couple of relatively short scenes in hospital in the last quarter of the book.kathryn_reads_paiges's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Points for more “holigay” reading and more fiction set in the DC area (but not another political thriller). I adored the nod to the Smithsonian, the metro (ugh), almost certainly Politics & Prose, and “Big Blue Dog” Cafe aka “Little Red Fox” (formerly next to P&P, RIP). So much adorable corgi content, too!
CW: Sexual assault (but the character’s experience is validated)
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Lesbophobia
lqvekanej'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? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content
Minor: Lesbophobia
thebookpaiges'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
4.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Cursing
Minor: Rape
cjreadstoomuch'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
4.75
Graphic: Sexual assault
Moderate: Sexual content and Toxic relationship
Minor: Lesbophobia
jenmaysiereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
bookcheshirecat's review against another edition
3.5
- How to Excavate a Heart is a romance between two Jewish girls who meet during the festive season. I thought this was a cute, fun read, especially as I like to read some romances that aren't centered on Christmas in December! Shani is doing a month-long paleoichthyology internship in a new city while also trying to get over the complicated past with her ex-girlfriend. She's living with a cool older woman and some other teens for the time being and their dynamic was fun! Generally, this is a great, mostly lighthearted (non-Christmas) holiday read! Toward the end, there is a discussion about past sexual assault, though the author does warn about this at the beginning of the book! Shani's experience is validated of course, but it's still important to know that there is an in-depth discussion about the hurt her ex caused!
- While I enjoyed the romance it was very insta-love and took over the story a bit too much. May and Shani were cute together and the premise of Shani accidentally hitting her with her mom's car showed promise. Yet I felt like they got obsessed with each other way too quickly for no reason. It annoyed me a bit that Shani's internship took such a backseat to the romance, especially as we see her making careless mistakes at work because she's only thinking about May. Things like that happen, but it didn't feel like she was that remorseful and it was also a bit unprofessional how she kept talking to her coworker about her love life 🙈 Another thing that annoyed me was how Shani treated a barista who had a crush on her. Instead of telling him point blank that she wasn't interested, she kept leading him on in order to get free drinks and laughed about it with her love interest. That could have been handled differently, as it felt very mean-spirited for no good reason!
Graphic: Sexual assault
Minor: Lesbophobia