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samchase112's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Wowowow, this book really knocked me out with how good and how emotional it became. I found myself staying up far (far) too late to keep reading, I was so invested in Elliot and Ama's evolving connection.
The split between Elliot in the past and Ama in the present did a lot toward making the second-chance romance work, and I looked forward to both sides of the story. And DAMN it got me tearing up, thinking about their emotional journey. A fair amount of readers complain about the wedding planning taking over the romance, and while I understand the criticism, for me Elliot's POV definitely balanced it out.
AH this book was truly so much better than I expected, and I am so grateful for that.
The split between Elliot in the past and Ama in the present did a lot toward making the second-chance romance work, and I looked forward to both sides of the story. And DAMN it got me tearing up, thinking about their emotional journey. A fair amount of readers complain about the wedding planning taking over the romance, and while I understand the criticism, for me Elliot's POV definitely balanced it out.
AH this book was truly so much better than I expected, and I am so grateful for that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual assault and Vomit
Minor: Grief
superbrats's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Death of parent and Cancer
amy_in_the_city's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
A second chance romance (?) between two people that don't belong together and should seek out therapy instead. It feels like it was written by one of those people who consider 500 Days of Summer a rom-com and wrote a fix-it fic for the main characters to end up together despite wanting different things. Ama clearly tells Elliot she doesn't do relationships. That should have been the end of it. She strings him along a bit, but he also lets himself be strung along because he doesn't believe her when she says "no relationships."
So much time was spent on the wedding planning plot and describing all the details and to-do lists that there was no time left for the romantic relationship or for character development in general. There were two chances to show them falling in love (past and present), but I never really felt they were in love. The past timeline mostly seemed about lust. They had sex a lot, but they didn't really have any conversations where they get to know each other in a way that makes their "love" believable. I couldn't tell you anything they like about each other besides he likes her ass and she likes his tattoos. They have maybe two conversations in the present timeline and neither show them falling for each other again.
Ama was pretty immature. I spent most of the book wondering why she never saw a therapist to deal with her feelings about her mother's many divorces and how that affects her views on relationships. You would think she would have sought out a therapist after her outlook on relationships ruined what she had with Elliot the first time but apparently not. Other than her relationship hang-ups and her career goals, she didn't have much of a personality.
Elliott was just kind of a jerk. Repeat after me: "grumpy" does not equal "being rude to everyone you're not currently banging." His first scene with Ama when she was trying to discuss a business opportunity and he was just negging her nonstop was not cute. It was also dumb as a business owner to be needlessly rude to a potential client. His inner thoughts were funny at times though, and I liked the general idea of him in theory.
A lot of reviews praise the steamy scenes but something about them felt off to me. There were some beautifully written lines in here about love but unfortunately, they felt out of character when the romance was so underdeveloped.
So much time was spent on the wedding planning plot and describing all the details and to-do lists that there was no time left for the romantic relationship or for character development in general. There were two chances to show them falling in love (past and present), but I never really felt they were in love. The past timeline mostly seemed about lust. They had sex a lot, but they didn't really have any conversations where they get to know each other in a way that makes their "love" believable. I couldn't tell you anything they like about each other besides he likes her ass and she likes his tattoos. They have maybe two conversations in the present timeline and neither show them falling for each other again.
Ama was pretty immature. I spent most of the book wondering why she never saw a therapist to deal with her feelings about her mother's many divorces and how that affects her views on relationships. You would think she would have sought out a therapist after her outlook on relationships ruined what she had with Elliot the first time but apparently not. Other than her relationship hang-ups and her career goals, she didn't have much of a personality.
Elliott was just kind of a jerk. Repeat after me: "grumpy" does not equal "being rude to everyone you're not currently banging." His first scene with Ama when she was trying to discuss a business opportunity and he was just negging her nonstop was not cute. It was also dumb as a business owner to be needlessly rude to a potential client. His inner thoughts were funny at times though, and I liked the general idea of him in theory.
A lot of reviews praise the steamy scenes but something about them felt off to me. There were some beautifully written lines in here about love but unfortunately, they felt out of character when the romance was so underdeveloped.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Cancer, Medical content, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit and Alcohol
Minor: Car accident and Classism
akswhy's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- 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
3.0
Solid little romance with an interesting structure.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Death of parent
wrensreadingroom's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Gaslighting, Cancer, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Cursing, Vomit, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Death
jstanothermillenial's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
A super sweet second chance romance.
I liked the writing style and pace a lot. For e debut novel this was definitely excellent and the negative points I had did not really impact the reading experience for me. I'll definitely be looking out for Julie's next book.
More detailed review including spoilers:
I really liked both Ama and Elliot, though Elliot did not endear himself to me at the beginning. He was needlessly hostile and mean to Ama when she comes to his flower shop and a bit immature (giving her the silent treatment because she says he has a man bun). He becomes sweeter during the book, but his rude behaviour is never really explained - he just seems to be a bit of a dick at the start which is absolutely fine since he was also the sweetest and oh the pining 🥰. Makes up for that for sure.
I like the way the duo pov was handled with all the stuff in the past from Elliot's perspective and everything in the present from Ama's perspective.
I didn't like the fact that they didn't use condoms. That her having an IUD settled things which disregards the existence of STI's. There are soooooo many ways to make the use of condoms sexy, it felt unnecessary to not have them in my opinion.
Lots of horny scenes though which was neither too much nor too little. Spice level was top notch.
The break up was well done, though I personally disagree with Elliott that the next step in a relationship has to be marriage after exchanging I love you's. You can be in a relationship that is fulfilled and happy without having to be married. But I know that's just my opinion and a lot of people put a lot more importance on marriage. He did realise this in the end as well and I love how they resolved this at the end.
The drama of the wedding was amazing, loved all the components - I thought at one point it was getting too much, but it all worked really well I thought and added a lot of content to the book.
Overall a very lovely second chance, grumpy & sunshine love story.
I liked the writing style and pace a lot. For e debut novel this was definitely excellent and the negative points I had did not really impact the reading experience for me. I'll definitely be looking out for Julie's next book.
More detailed review including spoilers:
I really liked both Ama and Elliot, though Elliot did not endear himself to me at the beginning. He was needlessly hostile and mean to Ama when she comes to his flower shop and a bit immature (giving her the silent treatment because she says he has a man bun). He becomes sweeter during the book, but his rude behaviour is never really explained - he just seems to be a bit of a dick at the start which is absolutely fine since he was also the sweetest and oh the pining 🥰. Makes up for that for sure.
I like the way the duo pov was handled with all the stuff in the past from Elliot's perspective and everything in the present from Ama's perspective.
I didn't like the fact that they didn't use condoms. That her having an IUD settled things which disregards the existence of STI's. There are soooooo many ways to make the use of condoms sexy, it felt unnecessary to not have them in my opinion.
Lots of horny scenes though which was neither too much nor too little. Spice level was top notch.
The break up was well done, though I personally disagree with Elliott that the next step in a relationship has to be marriage after exchanging I love you's. You can be in a relationship that is fulfilled and happy without having to be married. But I know that's just my opinion and a lot of people put a lot more importance on marriage. He did realise this in the end as well and I love how they resolved this at the end.
The drama of the wedding was amazing, loved all the components - I thought at one point it was getting too much, but it all worked really well I thought and added a lot of content to the book.
Overall a very lovely second chance, grumpy & sunshine love story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Sexual assault
dianaschmidty's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
relaxing
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Medical content, and Grief
Moderate: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Sexual content
Minor: Sexual assault
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