Reviews with content warning for Car accident - You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

I was excited to read this book because it was billed as “messy characters being messy” and I saw two reviews that said that every character in the book was awful. I do think they were messy, as promised, but I don’t think they were as awful as I was expecting. I don’t agree with Feyi and Alim’s choices, but I think I understand why they were made. Out of a different type of grief, I did some shady things when I was younger. Two people I know from university were in separate relationships (one of them was engaged) before they met each other, then they left their current partners for each other. It caused huge scandal, but they had apparently found what they were missing in their other relationships, and they’re still together, ten years and four kids later. I think this kind of thing can and does happen.

My biggest beef with this book is that the set-up felt like it took forever (although I just checked the book and it’s not that many pages) and then Feyi and Alim fall for each other super fast. I am always a fan of a slow(er) burn, so maybe that’s my issue here, but I would have thought that Alim, at least, as Nasir’s father, would have really hit the brakes on anything for longer than he did. So much of the end was also not what I was expecting? A lot of it felt very pat and trite (

Milan calling randomly? For the first time, like…ever?

) and I really didn’t care for the way

Nasir and Feyi build this rapprochement by the end

, but it had only been, like…a couple weeks or something.

There was a lot of beautiful writing in this book though, as well as thoughtful prose on grief and mourning. Just didn’t quite stick the landing for me.

Content Warnings

sulaasg's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Content Warnings

shesreadingagain_'s review against another edition

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emotional funny tense 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

4.5

Feyi is a widow going through the ups and downs of grief when she decides after five years of grieving her husband’s death in a tragic car accident (that she survived) to get back out there and get into the dating pool. Well, things get a bit…messy. I feel like we can all relate to Feyi to some degree. We have all been a mess, whether that is in relationships, friendships, just growing into the person you are now.

I had heard mixed reviews on this one but honestly I loved it so much. It was a book I was recommended and it was amazing.

Content Warnings

crystalsparkles's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This story is all the things. Spicy & crude, heartbreaking & sad, tender, soft & heartwarming. Messy. Insightful. Alive.

Content Warnings

katherinew's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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