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bribreez's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.75
*Check Trigger Warnings before reading.
4.75⭐️/ 3-4🌶️
Suffering the lost of a loved or a friend is always a heartbreaking experience. For, Logan she lost her best friend, Sofia, and on top of losing the one person who knew her best, she was now faced with the biggest change to her life, becoming the legal guardian of Sofia’s children. Logan found herself in the role as a single parent trying to help care and get to know Sofia’s children, and always trying to maintain a good relationship with Sofia’s parents. Luckily, Logan wasn’t alone since Sofia’s older brother, Alvaro was there to help. This emotional story had a lot of heart, sadness, love, and tropes ranging from slow burn romance, best friend’s brother, single parent, and age gap romance.
If you like the single parent trope then I think you’ll enjoy reading this book. I also think you’ll like this book if you’ve read, Mariana Zapata’s book, “Wait for It” that had a similar plot line to Logan’s. In Logan’s case, she wasn’t the kids actual parent, but became their legal guardian after their mom passed away. Logan became a parent to Sofia’s kids, and it was a new adjustment not just for her, but the kids and Alvaro as well. I could tell that Logan wanted to make sure everything went according to plan from making sure the kids had everything they needed to ensuring they felt comfortable with her. Although, with all the planning and organizing Logan did, some things you couldn’t control as seen by Dash, the oldest of the three kids constantly at odds with her or even with Vienna’s temper tantrums, and the youngest, Lachlan. While I’m no expert when it comes to kids, I could see that Logan was always trying her best, and not just to honor her late best friend’s wishes, but also trying to be there for the kids. At times, I just wanted to hug Logan and let her know it was ok, and to take a breather, my girl was going through it, but at least she had Alvaro to help along the way.
Best friend’s brother/sister’s best friend is one of my favorite tropes, and seeing how Alvaro was, it was easy to fall for the six foot tall retired MMA fighter! Alvaro was literally a strong man both physically and mentally. Alvaro was the kind of man who tried to do right by his family, but even when his parents didn’t agree with him becoming an MMA fighter, he still sought to mark his dream a reality. I was expecting Alvaro to be more off stand-ish towards Logan in the beginning, but I was glad to see that he fought for Logan to raise the kids just as his little sister, Sofia wanted. Plus, seeing Alvaro take on a parenting role to his nephews and niece made him more aware of their needs as well as helping Logan. As much as Alvaro agreed into helping Logan with the kids, the sparks were bound to fly with them essentially living together in Logan’s penthouse and coincidentally enough having alone time when the kids weren’t there! Alvaro was a “take charge” kind of man, and OH BOY DID HE TAKE CHARGE WITH LOGAN! WOO! The way Alvaro dirty talk to Logan, commanded her intimately with trust was sexy, and called her, “Jefe” (boss) was both sexy and at other lighthearted. Alvaro was just all around GREAT!
Omg I feel like I haven’t read a book this fast in a while that was so good and held my attention all the way through! This was an emotional story with lots of heartfelt moments as well as equally heartbreaking sadness that really tugged on my heart strings. Logan became not just a legal guardian to her best friends kids, but a parent who did the utmost to give them the best life possible after suffering a terrible loss of their mom. Alvaro was a great advocate to support Logan through the new transition of being the sole caretaker of his nephews and niece. I really felt sympathetic towards all the characters from Logan to Alvaro to even the kids as they worked their grief and adjusting to a new life. The tropes in this book were absolutely amazing from, single parent, retired MMA fighter, best friend’s brother/ sister’s best friend, age gap romance, forced proximity, and a sprinkling of slow burn romance. Logan and Alvaro had great chemistry and oh boy were those two intimately connected when it came to those heated scenes together! OMG! IT WAS HOT! A tall, muscular, former fighter who was wholeheartedly in love with his sisters best friend, YES I LOVED IT! I wasn’t expecting the bit of danger in this storyline but I actually liked how it played into Alvaro’s storyline which made it a bit suspenseful. As a whole, this book had me captivated all the way through, and I loved every moment of it! I was really happy to see Logan find her way towards happiness and even after suffering the loss of her best friend, she managed to find her own family, not those of blood, but by choice. I also really loved the epilogue since it further showed a happy ending for Logan and Alvaro and (sigh) it was really satisfying to read! Highly recommend reading this story!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Grief, and Death
glubglubglub's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault
readers_together's review against another edition
hopeful
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Infertility and Injury/Injury detail
tenderbench's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- 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? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Infertility
daisycantread24's review
emotional
hopeful
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? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Blood, Suicide, Violence, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship
kbairbooks's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
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
5.0
I have too much to say so I need to get this out of the way first. I am so unbelievably blessed to be a part of Amy’s arc team. I got an early copy of Keepsake in exchange for an honest review.
I am enraptured. I thought I saw someone say this as well, but the way this book broke me and then put me back together and gave me a kiss on the head was every f****** thing. I don’t even know how to describe how special this book was, how well it talked about grief, and how grief presents differently in different people. The difficulties of family and the tragedies we experience in life and the small moments that bring people together and the way hard conversations are necessary, but can also be healing and the hardest thing you’ve ever done at the same time. It was vulnerability and kindness and fear and failure and joy and elation and love and hurt and suffering all wrapped into one incredible story.
For the first 30% of the book I thought I wasn’t Vibing with the story. Keyword being I thought. It felt cold to me and I wasn’t connecting with the characters and I wasn’t sure how the story was going to go for me. But then the tables turned, and I’m not gonna spoil it here, but there was one specific moment that happened that completely changed the game for me. I loved, loved, loved seeing how the characters grew together, watched their love grow, their connections grow and it was just so beautiful. All the talk of therapy and healing and again it was just incredible. This is one of those books that’s going to stick with me long after I’ve read it and I am so thrilled and blessed to have been able to read it. Amy, I am in awe of you.
I am enraptured. I thought I saw someone say this as well, but the way this book broke me and then put me back together and gave me a kiss on the head was every f****** thing. I don’t even know how to describe how special this book was, how well it talked about grief, and how grief presents differently in different people. The difficulties of family and the tragedies we experience in life and the small moments that bring people together and the way hard conversations are necessary, but can also be healing and the hardest thing you’ve ever done at the same time. It was vulnerability and kindness and fear and failure and joy and elation and love and hurt and suffering all wrapped into one incredible story.
For the first 30% of the book I thought I wasn’t Vibing with the story. Keyword being I thought. It felt cold to me and I wasn’t connecting with the characters and I wasn’t sure how the story was going to go for me. But then the tables turned, and I’m not gonna spoil it here, but there was one specific moment that happened that completely changed the game for me. I loved, loved, loved seeing how the characters grew together, watched their love grow, their connections grow and it was just so beautiful. All the talk of therapy and healing and again it was just incredible. This is one of those books that’s going to stick with me long after I’ve read it and I am so thrilled and blessed to have been able to read it. Amy, I am in awe of you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Grief, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, and Classism
Endometriosis rep, mental health/anxiety rep, grief, trauma, family, latine characterseugeniareads's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
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? N/A
5.0
I wasn’t ready for the emotional roller coaster I was going on with this one. Please check the CW, Amy does a wonderful job of putting everything there for you before jumping into this one.It is definitely worth the read so I recommend it to everyone.
Logan is definitely someone that I most can relate to. She has the entire world on her shoulders and she is trying to juggle that and then she has her new role to add on to all this. Her determination to make it work is what got me. She fought with everything she has and it so relatable.
Alvaro! He is the guy that everyone needs. He supported Logan from the beginning when he had to talk to his family regarding what his sister wanted. He is a broken man for sure but he does everything he can to support Logan and make sure that the kids and her are taken care of.
The relationship between the two of them is amazing. They fight so hard but what is meant to happen will always happen. The support they have for each is amazing.
Again this book had me all over the place with emotion but if you are okay with the CW I recommend this book. It was definitely one of my favorite reads this year.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent and Death
what_karla_reads's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, and Suicide
Minor: Emotional abuse
addydeejreads's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
- 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
4.75
I can say with 100% confidence that I haven't read a story by Amy Oliveira that I didn't like. She has explored romance in many ways and Keepsake is one of the darker stories told.
A story of loss at it's core and the ways in which that loss is processed. We get glimpses into each of these characters as their lives get upended and they need to figure out the changes that are happening and how to deal with them.
Sofia was a mom, a sister, a best friend, wife and daughter...but she couldn't stay. Now her family has to deal with the aftermath.
It's messy for sure and I loved every bit of it. Every time they messed up but didn't give up. every time the kids opened up just a little bit, every time Alvaro and Logan shared a look. Oof it tore at my heartstrings. And it was sexy as hell.
Mental health is a huge part of this story, and that's something I was so excited to see. Because this revolves around a latine family, I knew there was going to be some pushback and that resonated so much. Too proud to see the abuse, too proud to ask for help, too proud to admit mistakes. It was triggering but I also felt seen. It was approached with care and even if I didn't always agree with the decisions the characters made, I saw why those mistakes needed to be made and ultimately helped them to grow.
Dashiell. I've never liked a teenager so much in a book. I felt his loss, his need to be an adult and protect his siblings from harm. I also felt his resistance to the change, reluctance to let anyone in despite wanting to let them in.
SPOILER!
...
"He was pierced. He was pierced. He. Was. Pierced." Will forever live rent free in my mind.
Please check the content warnings as the topics discussed can and might be triggering to some. Take care of yourselves and your mental health.
I received this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
A story of loss at it's core and the ways in which that loss is processed. We get glimpses into each of these characters as their lives get upended and they need to figure out the changes that are happening and how to deal with them.
Sofia was a mom, a sister, a best friend, wife and daughter...but she couldn't stay. Now her family has to deal with the aftermath.
It's messy for sure and I loved every bit of it. Every time they messed up but didn't give up. every time the kids opened up just a little bit, every time Alvaro and Logan shared a look. Oof it tore at my heartstrings. And it was sexy as hell.
Mental health is a huge part of this story, and that's something I was so excited to see. Because this revolves around a latine family, I knew there was going to be some pushback and that resonated so much. Too proud to see the abuse, too proud to ask for help, too proud to admit mistakes. It was triggering but I also felt seen. It was approached with care and even if I didn't always agree with the decisions the characters made, I saw why those mistakes needed to be made and ultimately helped them to grow.
Dashiell. I've never liked a teenager so much in a book. I felt his loss, his need to be an adult and protect his siblings from harm. I also felt his resistance to the change, reluctance to let anyone in despite wanting to let them in.
SPOILER!
...
"He was pierced. He was pierced. He. Was. Pierced." Will forever live rent free in my mind.
Please check the content warnings as the topics discussed can and might be triggering to some. Take care of yourselves and your mental health.
I received this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Death of parent, Grief, and Violence
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