Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Spoiler Alert

Note to self: do not read books without reading the description first. I don’t know why I did that with this one, but it meant I was surprised by a lot of things at the beginning.

Ultimately, I thought this was a book with a super intriguing concept and some good scenes and elements but ultimately lackluster execution of a lot of it.

I appreciated the body positivity and the treatment of Marcus’s dyslexia. I especially liked when April called out fatphobia in the fandom and he responded as BAWN. That was maybe the part of the book where I actually cared about their relationship the most.

Overall, I thought that the characters’ online friendship was much more compelling than their actual relationship, and I spent a lot of the book wishing that they’d both been celebrities or both been normal fans. I know that some aspects of the books wouldn’t have worked at all with that change, but the inherent power dynamic that came from him knowing so much more and keeping so much from her for so much of the book made it kind of hard to root for them.

Also, Marcus is SO MUCH more developed as a character than April is. I’m realizing that this is pretty typical in straight contemporary romances, but I don’t love it.

Alex was an interesting side character. I’d almost be willing to read the second book for more of him. I didn’t like how his ADHD was blamed for anything he ever did wrong, though.

The whole concept of the Gates of the Gods show basically being Game of Thrones but make it the Aeneid made me scream a lot. In both good and bad ways. It was wild.

Content Warnings

claracavanaugh's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-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

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dropshift5568's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

4.0

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bookwormbullet's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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christas_catalog's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

rosereads11's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted 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? It's complicated

3.5

Things I liked:

plus size main character - April in general was super cool and inspirational and felt fully developed outside of her relationship.
Supporting characters and friendships were funny and loveable
Love for fandom - it was very cool having the ao3 snippets and stuff throughout the story and the respect and detail given to friendships/communities in fandom was lovely.

Things I didn't enjoy:

Deception/miscommunication being the main conflict of the story and then feeling like it was resolved Without much growth from the side of the deceiver.
A bit of suspension of disbelief required in many cases
Pacing was a little off, latter half felt a bit slow

Overall I enjoyed this book and it was a quick fun read with some great characters!

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