Reviews with content warning for Death - Only When It's Us

Meh. I picked this up because I inadvertently read #2 in the “series” without realizing it’s a series, but it’s really not. Each book is a standalone about a different brother. I appreciate what the author did in both books with normalizing disabilities and making them accessible to the layman, but the overall story here just falls flat for me. #2 was much better.

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dianaschmidty's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring relaxing sad fast-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? Yes

4.25

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pandalesque's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

General:
Listening to the 2 narrators was enjoyable but sometimes it was hard for me to follow the story bcs of abrupt changes in locations, insufficient descriptions or not being sure what was said aloud. Maybe physically reading would've been helpful.

I found the writing a little clumsy at times..Some phrases were a little too cringe-y for my taste. And It's a confusing mix of almost insta-lovey but then slow burn as well. And one of the first times that I couldn't quite relate to either character in a romance novel... which isn't necessarily bad, just smth I noticed.

Question: Can people really see pupils dilate and the eye colours change when looking at somebody? Or is that only a little far fetched for me? Not that other romance novels don't describe colours of eyes or pupil dilation in excess as well...

Positive:
- I found the story-line with her sick mum and his family meaningful and gave substance to the characters.
- Also I think it's great that there is the hearing loss /HoH representation.
- I liked the integration of football (soccer) and being a female athlete.
- Mostly liked the smut: 3.5/5🔥 (y only mostly? see next points)

Things that took me aback were:
- the talk about protection... It being only about birth control and not include at least a conversation about protection from diseases (which tbh felt a bit out of character for R. at least)
- the 3rd act conflict didn't feel natural but to be fair, I rarely feel like it is in other romance novels I read.
<Spoiler> - found it a bit unnecessary that he was able to regain almost all his hearing with hearing aids. And that him returning to somewhat of hearing sounds was so dependent on him being happy and "grow as a person"... Also not really understood the no talking & no ASL.... but I'm not familiar with and not really qualified to talk about accurate representation concerning how people with hearing loss/deafness cope/act/experience life. And I'm also aware it is so rare to have HoH /deaf representation I should not expect it to encompass all experiences.
- negative talk about "wild", unruly curly/wavy hair
- weird names/having childish words for female genitalia...
- What the professor/brother-in-law did was a dick move and doesn't really make me wanna read his love story... Felt like a total abuse of power without a justified cause in my opinion.
- Referenced W. reading a lot of books but basically only mentioning "youknowwhos" by name

Probably still picking up the rest of the series.

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