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kb33's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Toxic relationship, Death, Infidelity, War, and Cancer
btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition
funny
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
TWs: Microaggression, mentions of sexual assault, mentions of war and death, mentions of PTSD and depression, already divorced parents
I'm going to start with the end and work my way back cause what the heck LOL
One should never turn the last page of a book, see the "Acknowledgements" heading, and exclaim "WHAT??" aloud. But there I was, 2AM, rereading the few pages the epilogue had to see if I had missed something. Nope. I was equally as confused the second time around.
All in all, I wasn't that happy with the book already - the MCs don't even acknowledge their feelings until 90% in, and don't kiss until 93% - I get slow burn but that's a bit much?? And I also wanted there to be more tension since I was left waiting for so long. This book is 500 pages. And the most we get is Aaron stonewalling her out of jealousy. I mean, he's sweet generally, but like, I wanted more something. Just more (but also maybe fewer pages???).
Also, I get that Ruby is relatively sheltered, but she acts more like a YA character than a 24 year old woman who's basically owned her own business for most of her life and almost died?? I'm just saying, those sorts of things change you. In her case, it made her more cautious, but she's also like an anxious mess (she doesn't have anxiety, at least not diagnosed) and would cry at the smallest things, which just seemed excessive after a while. And when she wasn't crying, she and Aaron were snickering at each other constantly (apparently general laughing was too much, and giggling was something to be done with self-deprecating horror).
Then there were the emails/IMs. The first half (and I mean half) of the book consists of these and at first I thought it was unique and a nice way to get to know the characters outside of normal interactions. But, as someone else put it, this was a way for Mariana Zapata to just play diversity bingo. Half-Filipina lead, check. Autistic side character barely mentioned again, with absolutely no screen time herself, check. People with PTSD and depression from the war, check (but not Aaron, he's a-okay). Divorced parents, check. Gay older brother and sister, check. As a whole, not helpful to the plot. It was novel at first, but became very meandering and slow. They slowly became info dumps with a few inside jokes here and there (that made it lighter and more bantery), but as a whole, I felt like it could've been shorter. I don't know. Epistolery is always hard because there needs to be more for readers to engage with as most of the other senses are tossed out the window in terms of characters and world building.
Back to the side characters and diversity - as a whole, all the secondary characters have the depth of plain white bread. I couldn't tell you a single fact about Max or Des and they're Aaron's best friends. And they're the ones with screen time. Ruby spends nearly the whole second half of the book with them in a beach house and nothing. Outside of the emails, we never get to meet and see Ruby interact with the majority of her family, even though they all seemed to have big personalities (and even when we do, it's for a very short period and it's mostly Ruby complaining and the others giving her vague advice before disappearing again).
Additionally, Ruby is half-Filipina. This serves no purpose to the overall story. It only matters in a scene where Ruby is telling the others of the most disgusting things she's ever seen people eat/eaten herself, and the top two were Filipino dishes, with another character commenting on another as being gross (pork knuckles, which by Chinese standards (my standards) is like very normal and fine???). And like, okay I get regaling dishes that are nasty, I've done the same for Chinese dishes cause we have some weird stuff, but in a book, written by a White author, where the MC's Filipina background is only utilized for this purpose seems utterly insulting?? Idk. Didn't care for it. AND THEN. A CHARACTER COMMENTS, “You can’t really tell you’re Filipino, except for the shape of your eyes.” She blinked. “That sounds really racist. I’m sorry. Mindy’s been rubbing off on me this week.” AND THIS IS A COMMENT MADE BY A POC TO ANOTHER POC. LIKE. WHAT. That doesn't sound racist, it is?? Hello microaggression?? After reading a whole book around this whole subject, my tolerance for it has hit an all time low.
Verdict is - half a star. One star cause GoodReads won't let me half star. I'm legit still fuming about that ending. I feel like I wasted two days of my life and precious sleep for this book and it wasn't worth the trade off.
I'm going to start with the end and work my way back cause what the heck LOL
One should never turn the last page of a book, see the "Acknowledgements" heading, and exclaim "WHAT??" aloud. But there I was, 2AM, rereading the few pages the epilogue had to see if I had missed something. Nope. I was equally as confused the second time around.
All in all, I wasn't that happy with the book already - the MCs don't even acknowledge their feelings until 90% in, and don't kiss until 93% - I get slow burn but that's a bit much?? And I also wanted there to be more tension since I was left waiting for so long. This book is 500 pages. And the most we get is Aaron stonewalling her out of jealousy. I mean, he's sweet generally, but like, I wanted more something. Just more (but also maybe fewer pages???).
Also, I get that Ruby is relatively sheltered, but she acts more like a YA character than a 24 year old woman who's basically owned her own business for most of her life and almost died?? I'm just saying, those sorts of things change you. In her case, it made her more cautious, but she's also like an anxious mess (she doesn't have anxiety, at least not diagnosed) and would cry at the smallest things, which just seemed excessive after a while. And when she wasn't crying, she and Aaron were snickering at each other constantly (apparently general laughing was too much, and giggling was something to be done with self-deprecating horror).
Then there were the emails/IMs. The first half (and I mean half) of the book consists of these and at first I thought it was unique and a nice way to get to know the characters outside of normal interactions. But, as someone else put it, this was a way for Mariana Zapata to just play diversity bingo. Half-Filipina lead, check. Autistic side character barely mentioned again, with absolutely no screen time herself, check. People with PTSD and depression from the war, check (but not Aaron, he's a-okay). Divorced parents, check. Gay older brother and sister, check. As a whole, not helpful to the plot. It was novel at first, but became very meandering and slow. They slowly became info dumps with a few inside jokes here and there (that made it lighter and more bantery), but as a whole, I felt like it could've been shorter. I don't know. Epistolery is always hard because there needs to be more for readers to engage with as most of the other senses are tossed out the window in terms of characters and world building.
Back to the side characters and diversity - as a whole, all the secondary characters have the depth of plain white bread. I couldn't tell you a single fact about Max or Des and they're Aaron's best friends. And they're the ones with screen time. Ruby spends nearly the whole second half of the book with them in a beach house and nothing. Outside of the emails, we never get to meet and see Ruby interact with the majority of her family, even though they all seemed to have big personalities (and even when we do, it's for a very short period and it's mostly Ruby complaining and the others giving her vague advice before disappearing again).
Additionally, Ruby is half-Filipina. This serves no purpose to the overall story. It only matters in a scene where Ruby is telling the others of the most disgusting things she's ever seen people eat/eaten herself, and the top two were Filipino dishes, with another character commenting on another as being gross (pork knuckles, which by Chinese standards (my standards) is like very normal and fine???). And like, okay I get regaling dishes that are nasty, I've done the same for Chinese dishes cause we have some weird stuff, but in a book, written by a White author, where the MC's Filipina background is only utilized for this purpose seems utterly insulting?? Idk. Didn't care for it. AND THEN. A CHARACTER COMMENTS, “You can’t really tell you’re Filipino, except for the shape of your eyes.” She blinked. “That sounds really racist. I’m sorry. Mindy’s been rubbing off on me this week.” AND THIS IS A COMMENT MADE BY A POC TO ANOTHER POC. LIKE. WHAT. That doesn't sound racist, it is?? Hello microaggression?? After reading a whole book around this whole subject, my tolerance for it has hit an all time low.
Verdict is - half a star. One star cause GoodReads won't let me half star. I'm legit still fuming about that ending. I feel like I wasted two days of my life and precious sleep for this book and it wasn't worth the trade off.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Sexual assault, War, and Death
km_loves_books's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Cancer, Death, Excrement, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and War
giuliaathenalombardo's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I found this book incredibly heart warming and sweet. I had read From Lukov With Love before this one and didn't even realise that this was about Jasmine's sister before I read it. It was a lovely surprise and it was great to read the snippets of Jas in this one, she is one of my favourite Mariana Zapata characters.
Onto this book, I loved reading the letters and IM Messages between Aaron and Rosie, even if they took up a really large part of the book (I didn't expect anything else from the queen of slow burns). I loved imagining what each of them was feeling when they received a new message from the other., although I would have loved some confirmation about whether what they felt was romantic. My prayers were answered when we finally got to peak into Rosie's head and realise she had fallen for Aaron, as we did, and their meeting was definitely my favourite part of the whole book.
I thought their relationship was incredibly cute and that neither of them made me especially mad at any point, which, as ever, is extremely difficult to achieve.
Onto this book, I loved reading the letters and IM Messages between Aaron and Rosie, even if they took up a really large part of the book (I didn't expect anything else from the queen of slow burns). I loved imagining what each of them was feeling when they received a new message from the other., although I would have loved some confirmation about whether what they felt was romantic. My prayers were answered when we finally got to peak into Rosie's head and realise she had fallen for Aaron, as we did, and their meeting was definitely my favourite part of the whole book.
I thought their relationship was incredibly cute and that neither of them made me especially mad at any point, which, as ever, is extremely difficult to achieve.
Content Warnings
Moderate: War and Death
Minor: Cancer
nicolesreadingbooks's review
funny
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
I somehow did not expect that my nosy ass enjoyed reading people's emails and texts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
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