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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
jcxjab's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
i read this book in one day. i really related to a lot of the themes here. taylor has a good voice in her writing.
i only wish that at the portions where there was overlap it had been omitted to avoid redundancy.
i thought ash and maya were really well written characters. i still am wondering is ash the girl maya saw on the train ?
anyway, this was one of the most accurate representations of coming to terms with sexuality and experiencing life with anxiety surrounding it. i related to both maya and ash in the sense that, it’s so scary to confront your own issues while being concerned about someone else’s.
i was sad when i saw they just didn’t work but that happens when you’re young and can’t confront problems.
this would’ve been a 5 if some of the overlapping writing didn’t feel repetitive. cant wait to read what else taylor puts out next x
i only wish that at the portions where there was overlap it had been omitted to avoid redundancy.
i thought ash and maya were really well written characters. i still am wondering is ash the girl maya saw on the train ?
anyway, this was one of the most accurate representations of coming to terms with sexuality and experiencing life with anxiety surrounding it. i related to both maya and ash in the sense that, it’s so scary to confront your own issues while being concerned about someone else’s.
this would’ve been a 5 if some of the overlapping writing didn’t feel repetitive. cant wait to read what else taylor puts out next x
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Lesbophobia
gbrolsma16's review
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
A beautiful coming of age story that captures the way queer young adults can have a youthful, naive, and painful experience growing into who they are beyond high school years. A short but meaningful read that explores the importance of sharing how no one queer persons experience is the same, and the ways those differences can be healing and difficult when brought together. Not exactly tragic, definitely not a fairy tale. Just a realistic story, and in many ways that’s so much better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Alcoholism
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
narzibenoucdel's review
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Entertaining enough to read through quickly and elicits enough emotion to feel anger, but otherwise mediocre in every way that matters. The ending is perplexingly bad and comes completely out of left field. An extremely amateur work overall that left one feeling salty and wondering why it was published in the first place.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, and Alcohol
keirahelena_'s review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Alcoholism
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
vivelelivre's review
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse