Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Marriage Game by Sara Desai

14 reviews

kg_chickadee's review

funny lighthearted medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Violence, Grief, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Vomit

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

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

3.75

   After a terrible breakup, Layla returns home and decides to open her own business in the office above her family's restaurants. But her dad has already leased the office to Sam. When Sam arrives for his first day in his new office, he finds his polar opposite and new enemy Layla at his desk. So, they make a wager, if Sam helps Layla find and go through a list of potential husbands then Sam gets the office. But maybe they're a perfect match, for each other.
     The book was as predictable as most contemporary romances. It had a good amount of humor but not quite enough spice. Most of the sex was off page, with some foreplay depicted. 
     I think this book should have been at least 2 hours shorter. I got to around 69% and wondered how there could be so much of the book left. It just felt very drawn out.
     Overall a pretty good book, just too long and with not enough spice. Also, a bit heavier than your usual contemporary romance, which I wasn't expecting. 

 Extra ratings: Fluff - 2/5  Heartfelt- 3.5/5   Helpful-NA    Horror- 0/5    Inspiration- NA   Love aka Romance-4.5/5   Mystery-0/5    Predictability- 4.5/5    Spice- 2/5  Suspense- 0/5   Tear 1.5/5  Thrill- 0/5  Humor-3.5/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Sexism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Body shaming, Grief, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Death, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Car accident

vj_thompson's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

1.0

This book was an emotional roller coaster that I did not need. I wasn’t a fan of Sam and Layla’s relationship. I thought it was very unhealthy. I also hated how every male character was written. Not every man constantly thinks about banging women…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Cursing, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Grief, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Death, Vomit, Violence, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Car accident

lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition

At 70 pages in, I could not believe how much I disliked the hero.  He was sexist, rude, heartless, egotistical and has a job that I morally couldn't get behind.  He and the heroine were having weird convos in front of other people, and it's confusing.  Is the other person just pretending not to hear them?  The blocking got kind of weird for the scenes.  Apparently later in the book he betrays the heroine quite badly and I am glad to dodge that.  I had been looking forward to this one, so it's a bummer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Medical content, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Sexism

angelfireeast24's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, and Drug use

sweetchocolatez's review against another edition

emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Classism, Death, Grief, and Medical content

Moderate: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Sexism, Vomit, Violence, and Misogyny

Minor: Emotional abuse

jennabenna's review against another edition

1.5

Read this book if you like toxic masculinity. The love-interest, Sam, full-on only every wants to sleep with or "protect" women, and punch other men. He is emotionally stunted, estranged from his family, possessive of his sister. He literally gets in bloody bar fights against his friend, randomly threatens people for no reason, is a total jerk at work, and has self-absorbed bullies as friends and coworkers. His behavior is WAY out of line in the climax of the book

attending a cocaine and stripper filled party instead of meeting Layla's family, and then defending his decision to evict Laylas family from their restaurant

and yet somehow Layla is the one making a grand gesture to win him back? 
Also, most of the banter between the two leads is in front of other people in a way that is really awkward. And the pacing of the book is off as well. 
Plus, TONS of trigger warnings (in addition to the violent toxic masculinity). A bunch of stuff happens that should be really
upsetting to the characters, but is just casually presented in a cluncky way to move the plot along and doesnt get the attention it deserved  

just to name a few, her parents are losing their restaurant, her brother died, her dad has a heart attack and is comatose in the hospital, the leads get in a car accident, one of her suitors beats up his female Employee within earshot of Layla, Sam's sister was pushed down the stairs by her abusive husband and is now wheelchair bound, Layla has a coworker with a girlfriend who is constantly sexually harassing her, including rubbing her body against his boner when she asks him to stop 

and thats not even all of the intense or misogynistic stuff that is presented casually in the story. I would have  given a lower star rating, but the Indian representation was nice, and her dad was sweet. Overall, Do not recommend.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Alcoholism, Car accident, and Grief

kfmcf's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted reflective 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

3.75

Really my only issue was this book was that it relied a little to heavily on pop culture references (eg., Layla references the Princess Bride a lot and it even makes an appearance in the epilogue where Sam now knows what it is). I don't mind if books have sprinklings of references but this one almost seemed ingrained in the character development.
The plot of the book was definitely weaker than the characters, but honestly I would much rather have it that way than the reverse. I found the characters enjoyable and relatable if not possibly needing a bit more grounding. The side characters were very enjoyable and I'm glad to be seeing more of them in the sequels which I will happily read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Grief and Domestic abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

kayladaila's review against another edition

lighthearted slow-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Car accident, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Grief, Gore, and Gaslighting

peachani's review

emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Car accident, Medical content, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Death, and Fatphobia