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micaela_ru's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Graphic: Bullying, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Stalking, Ableism, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
victorianbsilva's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Bullying, Gaslighting, and Sexual content
Minor: Sexism and Misogyny
capybooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Vomit and Sexual content
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Cursing, Misogyny, Sexism, Medical content, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Death, Sexual assault, and Self harm
sarahsreadinglist's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
I ultimately enjoyed the book, especially the drama and romantic tension between the characters, but I found it generally pretty mediocre.
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Sexual harassment, Misogyny, and Sexism
uyeb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
you don’t understand the ANGER i feel at this book for so utterly disappointing me. let me go on a rant for a second.
first of all, i actually started this book liking it pretty well. then it went on and the writing style had me a bit confused, but i was still pretty into the story. then about 250 pages through i realized ‘this is bs’ and started looking at the whole book through a lens of ‘how did booktok so passionately promote something so problematic?’. yea sjm is on the list a lot and yes some of the popular books aren’t good but so far, tiktok has done a pretty good job for me. apparently it ends here?
for starters, i was pretty quickly annoyed with both the main character and the love interest. lucy is very adamant about making people know she’s short (fine for a bit but gets annoying after a while), and OBSESSIVELY talks about josh’s body and kissing him, etc. that came across like… super freaking gross to me? then josh’s whole point of existence was being tall and muscular but also mean and the ‘iceman’ that needed to be proven to be nice. first of all, overdone trope. second of all, ew. their romance was bearable for most of the book, but the make out scenes were confusing and the amount of time they spent talking about sex instead of… idk… hanging out? was frustrATING. plus the weird plot point of painting his room the color of her eyes???? no thank you. i also didn’t love the pacing but that’s a me thing not a book problem.
then there was the insanely talked about idea of masculinity? i caught somewhere between 5 and 10 really really weird things that were said, along the lines of ‘saved from femininity’, ‘his manliness’, etc. and it came across as toxic masculinity and misogyny wrapped up into one weird package. no idea if that was the intention or not, but that’s what happened. also should mention the ‘his desk was the male version of mine, with blue post it notes, while i have pink’. yep you heard it here first, blue = men and pink = women. also, not an uncommon thing in romance but i still hate it, groups of women were referred to as ‘females’ at least once in this book. and that’s not inherently problematic but it’s weird. a. vaguely derogatory and b. a little transphobic and/or trans-exclusionary.
then let’s not forget to mention the fat-phobia and strange mentions of eating/food (not even sure how to categorize them), the use of multiple literal slurs??? how have more people not talked about that. there’s also the casual mentions about wanting to die (not in reference to anything like mental health, just about kissing, sex, etc) that multiple people have pointed out are very inappropriate, ableist language that’s used very frequently, and the occasional sprinkle of implying that being a sex worker is inherently a bad thing. yeah the phrases used to describe disabled people (some of which are considered slurs to begin with) used derogatorily are too much. some other reviewers have said it more eloquently than i can but it’s not good. there’s also a blatant lack of consent- especially lacking on lucy’s part- that made me personally super uncomfy. edit: let’s also not forget the fact that josh is lowkey toxic- he was unnecessarily possessive and weird to danny when it was completely undeserved. not possessive in the way some books do it well, trust me.
all this said, the romance was fine for the most part, but the writing style and language used really ruined it for me. i’m starting to think the adult romance genre isn’t gonna do it for me (dw tho, i’m not giving up). i at least definitely should’ve listened to myself when i originally thought i wouldn’t like this. would not recommend, this is the lowest i think i’ve ever rated something even if it’s not the worst book i’ve ever read in terms of actual content. :(
Moderate: Ableism, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, and Misogyny
Minor: Racial slurs
jmonca's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Fatphobia, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, and Sexism
angelsfw's review against another edition
- 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
1.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual content
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Toxic relationship
alainasanders's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Sexism, Vomit, Bullying, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Bullying, Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Vomit
I did like the book but I do wish some things were different, almost every chapter she’s listing after him. There are also SO MANY mentions of ‘she’s small’ ‘she’s tiny’ ‘she’s so short’ that it felt like they almost were making her a damsel in distress at some points. Other than that it was cute, if you like workplace romances and enemies to lovers (even though they didn’t seem like enemies in the first place) I think you’d like it more.madsw14's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Vomit
Moderate: Toxic friendship and Toxic relationship
Minor: Misogyny
tiitu's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Ableism, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Misogyny, Sexism, Stalking, Body shaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Sexual content, Ableism, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Misogyny, Sexism, Stalking, Body shaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Gaslighting
Minor: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Ableism, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Misogyny, Sexism, Stalking, Body shaming, Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Medical content