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kmrose'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
2.0
I read an ARC of this. I honestly didn’t love it. The writing was not great and I kept hoping both characters would come to some sort of realization and try to find help, but neither did and it wasn’t even clear how it ended. I suppose that could be a realistic portrayal of young adults in a relationship but it was not for me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Child abuse
juliaelman's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Physical abuse
aubsbooks's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-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? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Lesbophobia, Alcoholism, and Child abuse
bookishsapphicshay's review
dark
emotional
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Lesbophobia, and Child abuse
ziinnias's review
reflective
sad
fast-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
1.75
I'm going to start this off by saying I think this author has potential, but she thought she was giving more than what we received with a bit too much purple prose.
The beginning was rather slow, hard to sink my teeth into, but since I was listening as I was working I kept with it. It does pick up after a few chapters.
Her writing style felt rather clunky - she wanted to swap between main character POVs in the same scene/different chapter, but it gave off the constant impression of "okay we're moving forward aaaaand now we're back to like ten minutes before the scene we just read about but packaged slightly differently. Alright." There are better ways to tackle multiple POV, and I don't think the constant slight-backtracking works.
This had me going back a bit and trying to remember why we're talking about comp-het with a character I thought was always the lesbian. The analogies surrounding Maya's comp-het were good - that feeling you can't always shake no matter how much you shove it away, not wanting to think about it. Even though in theory I relate to the struggles these characters went through when I was their age, I never felt connected to them or compelled to their stories.
Despite the two characters being pretty different from each other, I never really felt like their voices were conveyed distinctly. As I listened to this in audiobook format, if it were read only by one person the entire time, it may have taken me longer to realize there were multiple POVs. I'm uncertain if this is the fault from her clunky writing style, weak editing, or perhaps both. It reads like something you'd find off fanfiction.net, or someone's unedited nanowrimo project.
Spoilered for plot and CW-relevant talk:I appreciated that throughout the book, healing was never depicted as linear. As someone that dealt with similar religious homophobia, it's an all encompassing even when you're aware that you're technically safe. Aisling's mother felt almost out of place and cartoonish, but relaying abuse can feel like that to outside perspectives! That's a big give and take.
I think this book could be good for the YA crowd, especially those wanting to explore sapphic themes, coming of age/getting to know yourself, unaccepting family, LDR, and life surrounding alcohol abuse.
The beginning was rather slow, hard to sink my teeth into, but since I was listening as I was working I kept with it. It does pick up after a few chapters.
Her writing style felt rather clunky - she wanted to swap between main character POVs in the same scene/different chapter, but it gave off the constant impression of "okay we're moving forward aaaaand now we're back to like ten minutes before the scene we just read about but packaged slightly differently. Alright." There are better ways to tackle multiple POV, and I don't think the constant slight-backtracking works.
This had me going back a bit and trying to remember why we're talking about comp-het with a character I thought was always the lesbian. The analogies surrounding Maya's comp-het were good - that feeling you can't always shake no matter how much you shove it away, not wanting to think about it. Even though in theory I relate to the struggles these characters went through when I was their age, I never felt connected to them or compelled to their stories.
Despite the two characters being pretty different from each other, I never really felt like their voices were conveyed distinctly. As I listened to this in audiobook format, if it were read only by one person the entire time, it may have taken me longer to realize there were multiple POVs. I'm uncertain if this is the fault from her clunky writing style, weak editing, or perhaps both. It reads like something you'd find off fanfiction.net, or someone's unedited nanowrimo project.
Spoilered for plot and CW-relevant talk:
I think this book could be good for the YA crowd, especially those wanting to explore sapphic themes, coming of age/getting to know yourself, unaccepting family, LDR, and life surrounding alcohol abuse.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, Child abuse, and Homophobia
pallasreads's review
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Child abuse
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Sexual content
stxrdust_books's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I don't really know where to start when it comes to this book, it was heartbreaking, soulful, and eye-opening, IT HURT, my heart was shattering into a million pieces while reading this book.
Aisling and Maya's story is one of family, friends, learning, exploring, and figuring out yourself, warning though, this book does not end the way you think it will. The ending is beautiful in a soul-shattering way and the reference to the title that Gabe makes is very perfect.
Aisling and Maya's story is one of family, friends, learning, exploring, and figuring out yourself, warning though, this book does not end the way you think it will. The ending is beautiful in a soul-shattering way and the reference to the title that Gabe makes is very perfect.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
gracewiley's review
sad
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Homophobia
kindra_demi's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
The story has the potential to be a beautiful coming-of-age story about a WLW relationship and healing from the trauma of one's childhood, but it falls a bit flat. I wanted to like this story, and I think if it had more workshopping, I would. But I struggle with the story because it feels like it's not complete. I am usually fine with having this open-ended ending where it leaves you questioning what could come next for the characters, but this book felt like it just ended in the middle of the ending.
I struggled with a lot of the writing because it would at times feel like there was so much time dedicated to creating the atmosphere and describing details, but for a story so short, there's not the space for that kind of writing. It often made me just kinda gloss over parts of the ending because I wanted to connect more to the characters instead. Yet this character connection remained missing.
I definitely will keep following Clementine Taylor's work as I think there is so much potential.
I struggled with a lot of the writing because it would at times feel like there was so much time dedicated to creating the atmosphere and describing details, but for a story so short, there's not the space for that kind of writing. It often made me just kinda gloss over parts of the ending because I wanted to connect more to the characters instead. Yet this character connection remained missing.
I definitely will keep following Clementine Taylor's work as I think there is so much potential.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia