Reviews with content warning for Abortion - Out On a Limb

Decided to give it a try despite the plot being centered on pregnancy, and I'm very glad I did! Such a sweet, well-told, wholly believable love story.

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oliviastewart716's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful

Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

(4.75/5🌟) I waited to review this one for a while because it deserves 5 stars but it just wasn’t quite a 5 star read for me. It was wholesome, funny, sweet, well-developed, emotional - literally all of the good things. It’s just missing something to send it over the edge. The thing that gives you the 5 star read feeling where you can’t stop thinking about the book after you finish it. I didn’t get that feeling, but it was still very very good.

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hellowildflower's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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alyssajp's review

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emotional funny hopeful

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

Content Warnings

solarlavenderreads's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

5.0

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cortanasreadingnook's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

5.0

Kindly check the TWs of Out on A Limb before reading.

This is an absolutely hilarious adult romantic comedy about two strangers accidentally falling in love along the way of having a baby together. I am a sucker for the pregnancy trope and this was exactly what I needed. Bo and Winnie are one of the bestest, most adorable MCs i’ve read in contemporary romance this year. Helena Bonam-Young knows her way through a romcom and she’s managed to accentuate longing and passion between two people who agreed to only be friends. Reading this felt so instrinsically intimate, and at the same time it delves into great physical disability rep, periods of grief, and traversed through emotional trauma, as well as recovery. Not only that, but this book is strongly all for women having full autonomy of their bodies and reproductive health and for that, I truly admire the writing. Furthermore, I’ve noticed this book has an uncanny ability to make a reader feel when everything finally falls into the right place at the right time. I could vouch for a number of books who feel like a Taylor Swift song and this was totally it! I wouldn’t mind a Bo in my life. My heart just felt so full as I read this. Despite the initial attraction between our two leads, there was no rushed romance but all fun and sweet moments.

Oh and the smut was chef’s kiss <3

P.S. I got slightly turned off after a brief mentioning of Velaris, which is a fictional place set in a popular book series written by a zionist.

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bookishmillennial's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective 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? No

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

Gosh, I love HBY!!! This was absolutely delightful, endearing, and heart-warming. I have really enjoyed HBY's past 3 books & this one absolutely lived up to my love of those!!!

This is first-person, present tense POV of Win. This is not a spoiler, because the author's note in the very beginning gives you warning, plus the premise kind of gives it away, but I really don't mind the surprise pregnancy trope! I love Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake by Mazey Eddings (highly recommend if you're a neurodivergent honey!), and I think we need to normalize more stories like this, because they feel authentic. Why do we hate when others don't particularly plan to get pregnant, but then decide "yeah, let's do this!" and a sweet lil baby is born? I don't really see the ick as long as both parents are willing/enthusiastic with the best intentions, and HBY wrote it so tenderly here!

Win is witty, goofy, loyal, and messy. She is working at a cafe, plus lifeguards during the summer, bringing her annual income to a whopping $26k (this is relevant later). The last thing she expects is to get pregnant after a Halloween/pirate one-night-stand with a guy who literally got dressed and bounced the moment they came. Win was also a surprise baby for her mom, and has been third-wheeling her best friends Sarah & Caleb, who are a couple (who also hosted the Halloween party where Win & Bo hook up) forever!

Bo is pensive, kind, and gracious! He is truly a book boyfriend to remember. I loved how he handled every single conversation about a hard topic, whether it was family, past relationship trauma (Bo’s past with an ex Cora & Win’s past with toxic ex Jack), disabilities, medical history, and more. I loved Bo's proposal of living costs and how to split it between himself and Win, based on their incomes, rather than simply going Dutch on everything. That was the point in the book where I was completely sold on him hahaha.

I loved both of these characters' journeys & their slow burn together was so satisfying. NO THIRD ACT BREAKUP OR MASSIVE CONFLICT EITHER!!!!! I think a theme in romance is that we all want to feel *chosen* rather than a product of circumstance or convenience, and that is something that comes up again in Bo & Win's journeys with this unplanned pregnancy. There were also some incredibly & beautifully human conversations about ableism, how being part of a marginalized group expands one’s empathy, & some inherent biases & thoughts parents have about having children. I really appreciated the conversations & inner dialogue Win had with Bo about this. HBY did a beautiful job illustrating this!

I listened to the audiobook via Libro FM & I highly recommend it. Victoria Connolly did a fantastic job :D

representation: body diversity (Win is explicitly described as loving to eat, and her midsection showing that, which I realllyyyyy appreciated - more variety in body types in romance please!), FMC has a smaller limb for one of her hands, MMC has a prosthetic leg/is an amputee, character is a cancer survivor, different family makeup (some people don't grow up with both parents! some people navigate loss/grief very early in life!), found family!

steam rating: 2.5/5

see content warnings below <3

side note: There's a throwaway line in here that says "Brittany from Walmart knows what she did!" as they discuss customer service reps, and I am on a mission to find a redeemable Brittany in fiction. We are the goddamn worst wahhhhhhhhh

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