Reviews

Pansies by Alexis Hall

rely's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful medium-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

4.0

babyjay's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective 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

This book has every trope I hate and yet, because Alexis hall is a literary wizard, I loved it. There is enough homophobia in the book that I’m not sure I’d pick it up again, but the characters are loveable and relatable and the story is kind of about how love is healing and can focus the mind but also that forgiveness is human and healing too. 

moll_ereads's review against another edition

5.0

4.75

RTC

linda_1410's review against another edition

DNF @ 11%

Anyone else think this was a "single dad finds love" story based on the cover? No? Just me? Now, I did wonder why the kid looked so much older/bigger in the new cover, but it never occurred to me once that that wasn't a child. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Sometimes, I really should read the blurb first. And that wasn't the last time I wished I had read it before borrowing this one from Audible.

Strike 1: The prologue confused the hell out of me. What is this het M/F love story doing at the start of an M/M romance? I thought I was listening to the wrong book at first. Then I thought, because I still thought this was a "single dad finds love" story, that he was telling his daughter how she was born? Which doesn't put him in a good light at all, all things considered. Then I thought, oh, she's adopted and this is the story of why. 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

(I'm guessing she's Fen's mom, but why we needed her backstory upfront, I have no idea.)

Strike 2: MC Alfie hits on LI Fen at a wedding and Fen's instantly weird and hostile about it. I wasn't looking forward to him being the LI from the start. But then the second chapter is one long sex scene before I know either of these characters, one of whom I'm not sure I even want to know, and I. Don't. Care. This is a personal gripe of mine that I've complained about plenty of times before, so I'll digress. But yeah, this didn't grip me at all. 

Strike 3: Then it turns out that Alfie and Fen actually knew each other in school. When Alfie tormented and bullied Fen every day for six years. Hell no. I stopped listening then because that makes zero sense on Fen's part to have accepted Alfie's offer for a hookup (Alfie hadn't recognized him), and I took to the reviews as soon I could get home to learn there's idiotic drama at 93%. 🙄 At this point, I'm pretty sure Fen is in desperate need of therapy, not a romance with his former bully, and Alfie needs to find someone else he doesn't have all this baggage with. I've read these former bully/victim stories before and they don't do it for me. I can never believe in the relationship, no matter how sincere the former bully was about his past behavior (and often, they're really not sincere enough), and I can never understand why the former victim would ever give them a chance. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I'm not reading anymore of these. 

At least it was free. 😂

avalydia's review against another edition

3.5

Overall, I enjoyed this story. Loved the descriptions of north vs. south and all the stereotypes/class divides (not British, so no idea how accurately it was depicted). Alfie's story really worked for me in that respect, he felt like a very real character caught between two worlds (while also struggling with internalized homophobia/toxic masculinity).

Fen's character felt... less real to me. Like, maybe there are people like Fen out there in the world and I just don't know them, but I just didn't find him believable. He was all over the place (maybe related to his grief? but mostly in a way that just seemed to serve the plot) and kind of a manic pixie dream boy. I'm also not sure I really buy him being that attracted to his high school bully that he would forgive him and hook up with him, but I've never been in that situation so I guess I can't judge? And yet. Did not compute.

So, five stars for Alfie, two stars for Fen, and we'll call it a 3.5.

emilyexmas's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-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? No

3.75

Not my favourite of the spires universe. The internalized homophobia was difficult to read. 

gillianw's review against another edition

5.0

5 stars

This book was a joy and a delight to read, but I often feel that way reading an Alexis Hall book. I often find that the best thing about Alexis' stories is how true they are to the characters and the landscape. Whether he sets his stories in northern England or on a ship that prowls the sky, you truly get a feel for the people and the setting. Pansies is no exception. I can hear Alfie Bell's rough hewn northern inflections in my head and how he tempers it for his southern co-workers and friends. I can picture the town of South Shields with the haphazardly arranged town centre and the way the wind whips the waves of the ocean. I can see Fen clearly - ethereal, gorgeous and so desperately unsuited to growing up in a small town full of small minds. There is such clarity in Alexis' carefully chosen words that no scene feels fuzzy or unfinished. His details are never too much or too little; Pansies gets it all just right.

I highly recommend this to everyone.

aryaharikrishna's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

2.5

kay1985's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

3.75

paperback_heart's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• 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