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smasson13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I will say the one issue that can arise in their writing that makes if difficult to always get through, is that they continue to add and add more issues. As a result, the endings can rush the conclusion of so many little plot points. I think the desire to add depth to characters comes from fanfiction writing where readers already have this huge wealth of knowledge about characters, but that is built up over series/books/movies etc. sometimes less is more, and different issues to be fleshed out into their own book with the same characters. It's just that 3rd part lull that can impacts the pace.
But characters are lovely as always and the writing just felt more confident!
Minor: Classism, Cursing, Alcoholism, Medical content, Alcohol, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, and Abandonment
fanboyriot's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Classism, Medical content, Cursing, Abandonment, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism
Moderate: Grief, Child abuse, and Alcoholism
Minor: Transphobia, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse
steph_weigle's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Medical content, Cursing, and Racism
Minor: Lesbophobia, Addiction, Abandonment, Outing, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Transphobia, Violence, and Child abuse
patelyne's review against another edition
- 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
Minor: Child abuse, Alcoholism, Medical content, and Racism
piperclover's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The writing is so clean and digestible that I flew through over a 150 pages without even realizing it. I am such a character-driven reader that I absolutely adore that this is basically a character study of Rome and Damien separately and also how they try to fit together despite not seemingly making sense together. Rome is the kind of character that I love with my whole heart because he's so prickly and defensive but also he's a genuinely good person who tries his hardest to understand everyone's situation and even when he does assume things incorrectly he makes up for it to the best of his abilities.
I absolutely love the conversations that take place in this book regarding race, class, and gender. This isn't a classified as YA but I think it makes a really good YA because it shows in detail how these assumptions about race and class skew are perspectives of each other and cloud our judgment.
I don't think this is exactly a rivals to lovers but it is definitely opposites-that-butt-heads to lovers and I think it is a really fantastic version of that because we see in a realistic manner for the age of these characters and for the timeline in the book how they genuinely learn to like each other and how they begin to understand each other through trial and error and practice and research. They don't really know what to do with each other but they know that they want to be together so they take precautions to avoid hurting each other and when they do hurt each other they discuss it even if it is halted and awkward and not the best communication ever. A lot of MM romances are about communication and this one is definitely about that too but it's in a different way because these characters do not change to be perfectly openly communicative and bearing their souls to each other but they do learn to listen to each other in a way that they couldn't figure out in the beginning.
This book is just hysterical. I cant count the amount of times I laughed out loud nd I wrote down numerous quotes because they were so funny I couldn't stand not having them written down. At one point the author calls Duo Lingo the "murder owl app" and died laughing and am still laughing even now.
This worked on absolutely every level for me and I am so excited to go back to the first books in the series and read those and I desperately hope they hold up to my expectation now that I read this one and loved it so much.
Graphic: Medical content
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Transphobia