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lapis's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
My blog has a more in-depth essay of how I related to this book.
https://blogs.booktoot.club/lapis/on-being-seen-in-stories
What I love about this book is that while there is a romance, that really isn't the point of the book.
It's a mental health book that made me feel extremely seen.
Now I will warn you: One of the viewpoint characters struggles with anxiety and intrusive thoughts. If you also struggle with those things, reading this becomes a really unpleasant experience, but I highly recommend you tough it out if you are in a mental place where you are able to do so!
This is the best depiction of intrusive thoughts and anxiety I have seen. I don't know if Jennifer Dugan personally has anxiety problems, but if she doesn't, she really did her research. Seriously, as Nebraska's most anxious person, I felt very seen.
I also felt very seen because of its frank discussion of suicide. I know not everyone can handle that, but I could really use more books that discuss it and make me feel like less of a freak for having had these problems. And books that teach you how to talk with suicidal people (spoiler: it's not by demonizing them).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Ableism, Biphobia, Medical content, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
Please understand while I included a lot of content warnings, I felt Dugan knew what she was doing. Everything felt very deliberate and measured.librarikay's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
4.5 / 5: this book was way more impacting than i initially gave it credit for. at first, i believed that it would be a simple love story between two characters from rival comic stores coming together through their love of comics. but in fact, as we switch from both of their perspectives, we see how impactful some of their issues become and how by internalizing it, it turns into a snowball that affects their relationships with others.
seeing how those issues knock together when these two meet, but there's an obvious show that they both really care for each other, it turns this story into one where two characters from two places meet and want to work. but what they really should better focus on is that through these connections, they have to focus on themselves most of all.
seeing how those issues knock together when these two meet, but there's an obvious show that they both really care for each other, it turns this story into one where two characters from two places meet and want to work. but what they really should better focus on is that through these connections, they have to focus on themselves most of all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Ableism
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, and Mental illness
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