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saraavowlerr's review
emotional
funny
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I liked the ending and the reasoning why I just wish everything else around it was told better. They reunited way too fast and Macy was the worst main character I’ve ever read ever.
He growled way too much
He growled way too much
Content Warnings
Minor: Car accident, Cursing, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Infidelity
chelle22's review
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Grief, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Car accident, Drug use, Cancer, Deadnaming, Death, Cursing, Death of parent, Sexual content, Vomit, and Panic attacks/disorders
serendipity421's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual content, and Grief
Moderate: Cursing, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Car accident
Minor: Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Drug use
hdoomk's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
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
1.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Gore, Violence, Cancer, Car accident, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Death, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Vomit
Moderate: Alcoholism
cady_sass's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The quintessential friends to lovers trope, done very expertly for the most part. I loved both of the main characters and it was killing me to figure out what the big twist was. Somewhere around 3/4 it became obvious and the sadness I felt was deep, just waiting for the inevitable to happen. Honestly the only thing bad i can say about this is a spoiler - the scene at the wedding was infuriating. It left a horrible taste in my mouth, I had grown to love Elliot and for him to act like his drunken infidelity wasn’t “good enough” for her to decide to be done with him is INSANE. You pine over someone for 11 years, knowing you fucked up, and then when have her back and you guys try talk about it you rage about how her decision to leave effected YOU?! Come on bro. Take some responsibility. Her dad didn’t have to die for that. Side note, personally I think the dad dying story would’ve been more impactful if he had died on the way to see her after she forgot to call, but that has no impact in my rating. It’s just what I thought was going to happen and it would’ve been even easier for her to blame Elliot for what happened.
/endrant
/endrant
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual content, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Vomit, Abandonment, and Death of parent
bethdearie's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Car accident, Death of parent, Grief, and Infidelity
lazybooklover's review
emotional
hopeful
sad
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 of parent
Moderate: Alcohol, Car accident, and Cursing
Minor: Drug abuse
emjen16's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Car accident, Cursing, Grief, and Cancer
Minor: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, and Medical content
theespressoedition's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
For the last several years, people have been recommending this particular Christina Lauren novel to me, knowing how much I adore friends-to-lovers. And wow, this really was a spectacular use of that particular trope, with a fair amount of second chance romance thrown in there as well.
Similar to my favorite friends-to-lovers romance, People We Meet on Vacation, this is told in dual timelines. We get an intimate look into the lives of Macy and Elliot as they meet and grow from awkward children into horny teenagers and then to in-love young adults that inevitably split apart. Simultaneously, we get to watch how they reconnect in their late 20s by happenstance.
The story has an air of mystery to it since you're not given a lot of information initially. I for one was left feeling desperate to understand what made them part ways in the past. However, I wasn't prepared for the answer in the slightest. I'm sure the other drivers on the highway were a little worried about me as I rapidly brushed tears off my cheeks while listening to this on a road trip. I definitely hadn't expected all the emotions that came along with the "reveal."
Truly, the only reason this book didn't get a full five stars is because I was uncomfortable with the sexual content in their childhood timeline. Yes, this is an adult novel, but writing about minors having sex just doesn't settle well with me. If it had been alluded to, that would be one thing, but it was a pretty heavy part of that timeline. I realize it was there for the sake of telling the story and gave a lot more umph to their adult timeline, but it still just gave me a case of the "ick."
As a whole, this book was really good, filled with a lot of emotional depth and fascinating character development. I would definitely read it again.
Similar to my favorite friends-to-lovers romance, People We Meet on Vacation, this is told in dual timelines. We get an intimate look into the lives of Macy and Elliot as they meet and grow from awkward children into horny teenagers and then to in-love young adults that inevitably split apart. Simultaneously, we get to watch how they reconnect in their late 20s by happenstance.
The story has an air of mystery to it since you're not given a lot of information initially. I for one was left feeling desperate to understand what made them part ways in the past. However, I wasn't prepared for the answer in the slightest. I'm sure the other drivers on the highway were a little worried about me as I rapidly brushed tears off my cheeks while listening to this on a road trip. I definitely hadn't expected all the emotions that came along with the "reveal."
Truly, the only reason this book didn't get a full five stars is because I was uncomfortable with the sexual content in their childhood timeline. Yes, this is an adult novel, but writing about minors having sex just doesn't settle well with me. If it had been alluded to, that would be one thing, but it was a pretty heavy part of that timeline. I realize it was there for the sake of telling the story and gave a lot more umph to their adult timeline, but it still just gave me a case of the "ick."
As a whole, this book was really good, filled with a lot of emotional depth and fascinating character development. I would definitely read it again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Grief, and Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing, Alcohol, and Panic attacks/disorders
Sexual content with minors.readingwithmeredith's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I had high hopes for this one since so many had said it was similar to Every Summer After and that has been one of my favorite romance books of the year. I can see why people say that but this book fell flat for me. It’s hard not to compare the two since there were pretty similar and in doing so it made me realize more of why ESA worked for me and this didn’t.
I missed having vivid setting adding to the romance, there were no side characters that aided the story well, all the relationships felt so surface level and the romance felt so physically based when there was so much more in this story to work with. I think when comparing it to ESA, ESA was much better in my opinion and had all the feels of beautiful setting/small town romance, reconnection, boy next door etc, and it wasn’t as focused on a physical connection which these both had similar amounts of sexual content and teenage exploration it felt more prevalent in this book. It did have more open door scenes/sexual content, more so in the flashback years, than I care for in a romance. Probably about 15 pages of the book total scattered toward the last 70% of the book.
Also, I wanted more depth to their childhood relationship than reading books in silence next to each other and trying to understand sexuality- just didn’t feel like a solid base for a true relationship that truly had been so hard for them to loose as adults.
I missed having vivid setting adding to the romance, there were no side characters that aided the story well, all the relationships felt so surface level and the romance felt so physically based when there was so much more in this story to work with. I think when comparing it to ESA, ESA was much better in my opinion and had all the feels of beautiful setting/small town romance, reconnection, boy next door etc, and it wasn’t as focused on a physical connection which these both had similar amounts of sexual content and teenage exploration it felt more prevalent in this book. It did have more open door scenes/sexual content, more so in the flashback years, than I care for in a romance. Probably about 15 pages of the book total scattered toward the last 70% of the book.
Also, I wanted more depth to their childhood relationship than reading books in silence next to each other and trying to understand sexuality- just didn’t feel like a solid base for a true relationship that truly had been so hard for them to loose as adults.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Sexual content
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Cursing and Alcohol