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julesadventurezone'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is a well written story but also the premise was more trashy romance novel than i expected based on the description.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent
Minor: Incest
venetiana's review against another edition
******
THE ORIGINAL BOOK IS BRILLIANT. ✨
This explanation is about the German audio book:
⬇️
******
The *German* version is badly translated. I cringed!
Admittedly, while the narrator has an amazing voice, the German audiobook was also not well read, and some things were just pronounced wrong, which kept pulling me out of the story.
THE ORIGINAL BOOK IS BRILLIANT. ✨
This explanation is about the German audio book:
⬇️
******
The *German* version is badly translated. I cringed!
Admittedly, while the narrator has an amazing voice, the German audiobook was also not well read, and some things were just pronounced wrong, which kept pulling me out of the story.
Content Warnings
Minor: Biphobia, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism
dschwartz5's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The ending sort of dragged on and got repetitive.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death and Car accident
Minor: Homophobia and Violence
luizalikesbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
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
5.0
Don’t let the people saying this book it’s just super messy and spicy fool you. This was 100% a wonderful depiction of how grief undeniably transforms you and how maybe ~messy~ it can be to go about rebuilding your life and prioritizing your joy and pleasure sometimes at the detriment of making other people happy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, and Grief
Minor: Violence and Blood
snaileton's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
contemporary romance isn’t really my thing (read it for the florence + the machine title lol) but found myself enjoying it for the most part! the conversations of “should we or should we not” in regards to the main relationship got quite repetitive, and i wasn’t sold on the main couple falling in love so quickly, though they are quite sweet together. the insta-lust (teetering on instalove) upon meeting alim at the airport threw me out of it. with the blurb describing that she was attracted to someone she definitely shouldn’t be looking at and an early chapter reveal of alim being a widower, it was clear who the main couple would be. i would have liked to see the pair get to know each other and share their similar hurts and develop the relationship from there, rather than love at first sight. loved the bi rep and the friendship between feyi and joy. not the strongest hit for me, but looking forward to reading more from Emezi in their other works.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Car accident, and Death of parent
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Homophobia and Alcohol
venetiana's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
tense
slow-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
Best book I've read in a long time. Sometimes I wanted to highlight All the Words, the writing is beautiful.
Very emotional (in a good way) and tender.
Very emotional (in a good way) and tender.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, and Car accident
Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Minor: Biphobia, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
camilleberedjick's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
5.0
Just an incredible reading experience. Can’t believe it took me so long to get to this one because I am literally sad it’s over
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Death of parent
Moderate: Child death and Homophobia
Minor: Domestic abuse
bootrat'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Grief
Moderate: Blood and Car accident
Minor: Homophobia
bisexualwentworth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This book made me mad.
First, the good.
Akwaeke Emezi’s prose is, as always, gorgeous and poetic and capable of hitting me in ways I’ve never even thought about before.
Feyi’s grief and pain and joy and messiness are written with so much heart and sensitivity and depth of feeling. She was a wonderful character to spend this time with. And I even related to her in some sweet and painful and messy ways.
Despite the age gap, etc, Alim is such a fantastic love interest, and, despite my qualms with certain things, one of the most well-written bisexual men I’ve encountered in fiction. I adore him.
This is very much a romance novel, but it’s a little bit less of one than Emezi would like to admit, I think. The main focus here is on grief and new growth, and the characters work through those things beautifully. It’s also single POV, and the love interest isn’t introduced til over a quarter of the way in, and that makes it read very unconventionally for a romance novel.
My big gripe here is that this novel’s approach to sex is SHOCKINGLY cisheteronormative for a book with bisexual leads written by a trans author. I’ve noticed a weird amount of bioessentialism and internalized transphobia in all of Emezi’s adult fiction, and this one is no exception. Also, what’s with the biphobia in Joy’s part of the story? Super weird.
Nasir and Lorraine are also super homophobic and the book kinda brushes that off a lot.
And I wish that we’d gotten one or two more real conversations between Feyi and Alim. I felt a bit lost in the sauce of the poetics at time at the expense of the characters.
I would still like to get Joy’s book, though, and I WOULD watch a movie of this. It made me uncomfortable at times, but it was oh so very fun and messy and delightful.
First, the good.
Akwaeke Emezi’s prose is, as always, gorgeous and poetic and capable of hitting me in ways I’ve never even thought about before.
Feyi’s grief and pain and joy and messiness are written with so much heart and sensitivity and depth of feeling. She was a wonderful character to spend this time with. And I even related to her in some sweet and painful and messy ways.
Despite the age gap, etc, Alim is such a fantastic love interest, and, despite my qualms with certain things, one of the most well-written bisexual men I’ve encountered in fiction. I adore him.
This is very much a romance novel, but it’s a little bit less of one than Emezi would like to admit, I think. The main focus here is on grief and new growth, and the characters work through those things beautifully. It’s also single POV, and the love interest isn’t introduced til over a quarter of the way in, and that makes it read very unconventionally for a romance novel.
My big gripe here is that this novel’s approach to sex is SHOCKINGLY cisheteronormative for a book with bisexual leads written by a trans author. I’ve noticed a weird amount of bioessentialism and internalized transphobia in all of Emezi’s adult fiction, and this one is no exception. Also, what’s with the biphobia in Joy’s part of the story? Super weird.
Nasir and Lorraine are also super homophobic and the book kinda brushes that off a lot.
And I wish that we’d gotten one or two more real conversations between Feyi and Alim. I felt a bit lost in the sauce of the poetics at time at the expense of the characters.
I would still like to get Joy’s book, though, and I WOULD watch a movie of this. It made me uncomfortable at times, but it was oh so very fun and messy and delightful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Grief
Moderate: Biphobia, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Violence, and Car accident
displacedcactus's review against another edition
emotional
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
I don't normally go in for the dramatic, messy side of the contemporary romance genre. I'd passed over this book a few times because "MC falls for her current squeeze's dad" just isn't my kind of thing. But all of my library holds were taking *forever* to come in, and this was available, and I'd enjoyed Pet and Bitter earlier this year.
Just so we're clear: The only thing this book has in common with Pet and Bitter is that both involve talented Black artists. Do NOT hand this one to your YA-reading kids.
Emezi is a very talented author. The language in this book is simply lush and beautiful. The food and art descriptions are dazzling. So I went along for the messy ride, even if I disagreed with most of the choices that Feyi made. If you like a romance that has lots of big emotions and a hint of the forbidden, then you'll probably enjoy this. And if you have to read something messy and spicy for some sort of reading challenge, this would be a good way to dip your toe into a genre you normally avoid.
Just so we're clear: The only thing this book has in common with Pet and Bitter is that both involve talented Black artists. Do NOT hand this one to your YA-reading kids.
Emezi is a very talented author. The language in this book is simply lush and beautiful. The food and art descriptions are dazzling. So I went along for the messy ride, even if I disagreed with most of the choices that Feyi made. If you like a romance that has lots of big emotions and a hint of the forbidden, then you'll probably enjoy this. And if you have to read something messy and spicy for some sort of reading challenge, this would be a good way to dip your toe into a genre you normally avoid.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, and Car accident
Moderate: Biphobia, Homophobia, and Blood
Minor: Child death, Misogyny, and Death of parent
All of the major characters in this book are black and they use the slangy "a" ending version of the n word to refer to each other *a lot*.