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mandaraffe's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Sexual content
Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Eating disorder
allisonwonderlandreads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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? Yes
4.0
Yaaaaaaaaay a scientist/fangirl protagonist. This is what dreams are made of. The nerdiness is 10/10, which is exactly at my level, of course. April is a geologist who writes fanfiction and cosplays for her favorite show. When she is fat-shamed on Twitter for a cosplay picture, the lead actor of her favorite show publicly asks her out. Also, neither know that they have been online friends for years in the fanfiction community.
There are SO MANY great one-liners in this book. Whether I was having a wry chuckle or a full belly laugh, this book put me through my paces in a fun way. I loved the use of other media to break up the storyline and provide context and background for the characters or their fandom. Some of the shared fanfics were awesome, some were (intentionally) hilarious, and all had startlingly specific and amusing tags. Alex's contributions were so off-the-wall funny that I eagerly await his own story.
The steam was exquisite. April has decreed you can't call it slow-burn if they bang in the first chapter, and I would like everyone to take notes on that point.
The feels were meaningful and heartwarming, and the characters' struggles were deep-seated and thoughtful from Marcus' teacher parents' certainty that his slow academic progress was due to laziness rather than a condition like dyslexia to the fat-shaming April experiences, even from loved ones. Their journeys are messy, sometimes aligned, and sometimes causing conflict. They respect one another and keep an eye always on consent, whether it's physical or emotional.
This was a satisfying read for me all around, and I can't wait to read more by this author.
There are SO MANY great one-liners in this book. Whether I was having a wry chuckle or a full belly laugh, this book put me through my paces in a fun way. I loved the use of other media to break up the storyline and provide context and background for the characters or their fandom. Some of the shared fanfics were awesome, some were (intentionally) hilarious, and all had startlingly specific and amusing tags. Alex's contributions were so off-the-wall funny that I eagerly await his own story.
The steam was exquisite. April has decreed you can't call it slow-burn if they bang in the first chapter, and I would like everyone to take notes on that point.
The feels were meaningful and heartwarming, and the characters' struggles were deep-seated and thoughtful from Marcus' teacher parents' certainty that his slow academic progress was due to laziness rather than a condition like dyslexia to the fat-shaming April experiences, even from loved ones. Their journeys are messy, sometimes aligned, and sometimes causing conflict. They respect one another and keep an eye always on consent, whether it's physical or emotional.
This was a satisfying read for me all around, and I can't wait to read more by this author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Racism
casey_sunshine's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Ableism, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, and Body shaming
bridgetlynette's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Fatphobia
mkwreads's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Body shaming, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Emotional abuse
bygollyollie's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Sexual content, Body shaming, and Cursing
Moderate: Ableism, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
candidceillie's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Sexism, and Grief
books_bunny's review against another edition
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Just because I gave this book 2 ⭐️ doesn’t mean I thought this book was a bad book.
The body positivity within this book was really well executed. As the main character, April, is a plus sized woman in some books there can be a fine line of fat shaming coming through in the writing, in this book I didn’t feel that at all. Whilst some characters in the book are indeed fat phobic they are side characters and normally confronted about their views. Similarly, there is a lot of emotional abuse done to both main characters by their parents, including child neglect in the main characters past which has followed them their whole life and comes out in different ways in their daily lives. Throughout this book we follow both characters come to terms with this abuse and start to stand up for themselves against it. Having the other main character, Marcus, going through his own individual issues gave his character their own emotional battles to fight. I enjoyed this as it made April seem less like she needed to be ‘saved’ and instead made their relationship a lot more two sided with them both being there for each other.
On the other hand, I did feel like this book had a lot of issues as well. From the offset it is very obvious what the main disagreement in this book was going to be about but the whole books talks about bigger possible risks, and yet, do these ever come to be? No, in the end it comes to fruition through one of the side characters instead. If the main thing that keeps being mentioned ends up happening to a side character instead I personally would of preferred to be following them the whole time. I also felt no connection between these 2 main characters and that the whole middle section of this book was for nothing since not a lot happened other than a couple of steamy sex scenes which I thought were good but didn’t save that section. However, the beginning and end were enjoyable.
If you are an adult looking for a romance book with several steamy scenes or characters standing up to emotional trauma then I would recommend checking this book out. However, for me personally this book just didn’t quite keep me interested for the whole 400 pages. Since the next book in this series focuses on the character Alex and his love interest, who in this book had the storyline I was much more interested in, I hope that it’s plot is more enjoyable and intriguing where I found this one was just generic and a little unmemorable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Fatphobia
Minor: Body shaming and Bullying
tiggerreads's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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? Yes
4.0
Even though there were a couple of heavy topics the characters dealt with I thought this was a beautiful, fluffy story. I am not a fanfic reader or writer and I enjoyed this a lot. I did have to google 'OTP' for a definition, but that is the only issue I had. Oh, I also googled the pronunciation of Aeneas (uh·nee·uhs), because I figured I was mentally pronouncing it wrong. Not a surprise, I was. I liked both April and Marcus. They were both relatable. I did see parts of myself in April which was nice. I liked how April and Marcus worked to set boundaries with their parents. I also enjoyed how April and Marcus connected with each other online and in person. Every chapter was wonderful to read, even the hard ones.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Toxic relationship
leahrosereads's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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
I really enjoyed this one. Loved the characters, their struggles and strengths, and how the story progressed. The writing is excellent, and I loved seeing a fat woman who loves her body on page and completely unapologetic!
Not a huge fan of the fandom aspects, and I ended just skimming those pages, but if you like those elements (fanfic and movie script blurbs), I think this will probably be an easy 5 star read for you!
Not a huge fan of the fandom aspects, and I ended just skimming those pages, but if you like those elements (fanfic and movie script blurbs), I think this will probably be an easy 5 star read for you!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship