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bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition
hopeful
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Abandonment, and Sexual content
rensreading's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
i didn’t really have any expectations for this book coming into it but i was blown away anyway!
jess took me a moment to warm up to. as soon as she started talking about juno, i adored them both. i love loving parents and struggling parents who are doing their best and doing an amazing job even when they feel like they’re failing their child bc they weren’t raised by their own parents growing up. jess is exactly this to a T. she feels like she isn’t doing enough for juno but i believe her best was all that was needed. she listens to her daughter, she makes sure a trusted adult is always nearby to watch her, she gives her privacy when she wants it, and she always apologizes without expecting juno to accept — and, of course, all the basics like clothes, food, and shelter. jess is a great mom and a hard worker and loves those in her small circle fiercely. she’s open about her feelings even when she doesn’t know what she’s feeling and she always strives to be honest. i love that about her.
river is the new love of my life. i never understood why people had book boyfriends but after reading this? i want to marry the man who sat with his abuela everyday to watch novelas and built a matchmaking service when people laughed at the idea of compatibility being calculated by genetics because he couldn’t watch the novelas anymore but he could still honor his abuela’s memory believing in the perseverance of love. i know he was mistaken for an asshole in the beginning but in reality, he’s just so shy. not a grump at all and especially not with his girls. he is so good with juno. i just about melted the first time they met. i knew i was never going to be able to hate this man after reading that. i love him. i want him to always be happy with the people he loves most, big ole nerd 💚
the plot was a bit up and down but it never faltered and there was never a boring moment either. the adults actually acted like adults and COMMUNICATED instead of giving way to the third act break up which i have NEVER seen before in a romcom so kudos for that. the banter for almost any character interaction was phenomenal and fizzy being comedic relief but ALSO an important character as well? lauren really knows how to create multi-faceted characters even when they’re not the main focus of the story. lauren’s writing style is one of my new favorites as well and i’m glad to have another book of theirs waiting for me on my physical tbr shelf. i hope i like their other works as much as i did this one!
juno was adorable but no 7-9 y/o would talk so eloquently the way she did in the epilogue that takes place 2 years later. and that is the only complaint i had about this story. so with that, i rate this 4.5 stars :D
jess took me a moment to warm up to. as soon as she started talking about juno, i adored them both. i love loving parents and struggling parents who are doing their best and doing an amazing job even when they feel like they’re failing their child bc they weren’t raised by their own parents growing up. jess is exactly this to a T. she feels like she isn’t doing enough for juno but i believe her best was all that was needed. she listens to her daughter, she makes sure a trusted adult is always nearby to watch her, she gives her privacy when she wants it, and she always apologizes without expecting juno to accept — and, of course, all the basics like clothes, food, and shelter. jess is a great mom and a hard worker and loves those in her small circle fiercely. she’s open about her feelings even when she doesn’t know what she’s feeling and she always strives to be honest. i love that about her.
river is the new love of my life. i never understood why people had book boyfriends but after reading this? i want to marry the man who sat with his abuela everyday to watch novelas and built a matchmaking service when people laughed at the idea of compatibility being calculated by genetics because he couldn’t watch the novelas anymore but he could still honor his abuela’s memory believing in the perseverance of love. i know he was mistaken for an asshole in the beginning but in reality, he’s just so shy. not a grump at all and especially not with his girls. he is so good with juno. i just about melted the first time they met. i knew i was never going to be able to hate this man after reading that. i love him. i want him to always be happy with the people he loves most, big ole nerd 💚
the plot was a bit up and down but it never faltered and there was never a boring moment either. the adults actually acted like adults and COMMUNICATED instead of giving way to the third act break up which i have NEVER seen before in a romcom so kudos for that. the banter for almost any character interaction was phenomenal and fizzy being comedic relief but ALSO an important character as well? lauren really knows how to create multi-faceted characters even when they’re not the main focus of the story. lauren’s writing style is one of my new favorites as well and i’m glad to have another book of theirs waiting for me on my physical tbr shelf. i hope i like their other works as much as i did this one!
juno was adorable but no 7-9 y/o would talk so eloquently the way she did in the epilogue that takes place 2 years later. and that is the only complaint i had about this story. so with that, i rate this 4.5 stars :D
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Sexual content, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Addiction
what i have tagged in the graphic and minor section concerns jess’ childhood and her mother so (most of) it is in the past or very briefly mentioned. also moderate child neglect (again bc of jess’ mom).alexisgarcia'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
3.5
this was pretty cute. not my favorite by Christina Lauren but not bad either. the concept was unique but i didn’t really like the conflict, it was kinda disappointing to me that that was what happened. it also kinda felt like insta-love to me idk. but i loved fizzy and juno so much! they added to much depth to the story. and the epilogue was very sweet, almost teared up. also if one of the authors could PLEASE tell us the actual score i would appreciate it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Cursing, Medical content, and Pregnancy
chrisljm's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, and Sexual content
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Infidelity
kaseybereading's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Medical content, and Sexual content
thewildmageslibrary's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
5.0
This book, y'all. Fake dating, grumpy/sunshine one, the sassiest bestie, the family...everything. I adored Jess and River's relationship and all the evolving they did. The authors sure know how to write tension. ;) Also, the nerdy humor and math is right up my alley (though statistics was never my thing haha). The scenes with Fizzy killed me, she is the best!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Drug abuse, Abandonment, Drug use, and Alcoholism
purplepenning's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Drug use, Medical content, and Sexual content
Minor: Blood
needle use (to take blood sample); boundary-setting with addicted family memberkrystlethegreat's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
4.75
Loved this book. Only missed the 5⭐️ mark because some of the love scenes are confusing... either fade to black or describe them fully.
And why - for the love - did we not get the final information?? I mean, River knows, Jess seems to have found out... why the heck are we left in the dark?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Addiction
lisa_m's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
So cute. I really loved their dynamic and Rivers as a father was just so so cute!
I also thought that the conflict towards the end was done pretty well. I don't particularly like how the characters acted but it made sense and is not toxic like so many other romance books.
Also all the cute and couple scenes we got after that totally made up for it. I love that we didn't just see that they got together and they will live happily ever after but that we actually got to see that. I love to read about domestic bliss.
Also I hate her mum.. Everytime they talk about her I just got so so angry. I get that it's a realistic representation of bad parents but I just didn't want to read about it.
Her best friend and child are the absolute best though!!
I also didn't like the way they knew and "hated" each other before they got the results. I feel like everyone just wants to include enemies to lovers in their books but it felt out of place. It also very clearly wasn't hate but very strong attraction + denial of that attraction from the very beginning.. idk how often she mentioned that he is an asshole or that he took her parking spot..
I also didn't like the narrative voice. It is told from a second person perspective and that just really took me out of the story. Since I listened to it as an audiobook it was okay but if I read the physical copy that would have probably annoyed me even more.
All in all its super cute though and I like the relationship. Would recommend :)
(unless you despise the soulmate trope but it even says so in the title so what are you even doing here? 👀)
I also thought that the conflict towards the end was done pretty well. I don't particularly like how the characters acted but it made sense and is not toxic like so many other romance books.
Also all the cute and couple scenes we got after that totally made up for it. I love that we didn't just see that they got together and they will live happily ever after but that we actually got to see that. I love to read about domestic bliss.
Also I hate her mum.. Everytime they talk about her I just got so so angry. I get that it's a realistic representation of bad parents but I just didn't want to read about it.
Her best friend and child are the absolute best though!!
I also didn't like the way they knew and "hated" each other before they got the results. I feel like everyone just wants to include enemies to lovers in their books but it felt out of place. It also very clearly wasn't hate but very strong attraction + denial of that attraction from the very beginning.. idk how often she mentioned that he is an asshole or that he took her parking spot..
I also didn't like the narrative voice. It is told from a second person perspective and that just really took me out of the story. Since I listened to it as an audiobook it was okay but if I read the physical copy that would have probably annoyed me even more.
All in all its super cute though and I like the relationship. Would recommend :)
(unless you despise the soulmate trope but it even says so in the title so what are you even doing here? 👀)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Medical content, Abandonment, and Addiction
lizzieb29's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment and Addiction