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britreadsbooks_'s review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
*ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
CWs pinned on the author’s Instagram & on storygraph.
HEART ON FLOOR. HEART ON FLOOR. Now that I’ve got that off my chest, I’m just gonna tell you how much I adored this. Torie Jean has delivered a total emotional gut punch that also lends itself to humour and chaos. Let me just say if you’re looking for a story with unrequited love and pining, this will be right up your alley. Did I mention Liam’s love language is taking care of Evie? Any man who would drop everything to bring a woman in need bread is a total keeper. Would I have appreciated this more if I had an attachment to Gene Kelly and Audrey Hepburn? Probably. But that didn’t stop me from absolutely swooning into oblivion. Especially every time Liam blushed. I was also weak in the knees every time a pun was delivered. Word play is my soul food. I also love that Evie’s character gives insight into life with endometriosis. Torie doesn’t paint a pretty picture either; she gives a raw, uncensored look into life with chronic illness. We need more of that in romance. If you enjoyed books like Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert, The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez, and Always Only You by Chloe Liese then you might want this on your tbr.
CWs pinned on the author’s Instagram & on storygraph.
HEART ON FLOOR. HEART ON FLOOR. Now that I’ve got that off my chest, I’m just gonna tell you how much I adored this. Torie Jean has delivered a total emotional gut punch that also lends itself to humour and chaos. Let me just say if you’re looking for a story with unrequited love and pining, this will be right up your alley. Did I mention Liam’s love language is taking care of Evie? Any man who would drop everything to bring a woman in need bread is a total keeper. Would I have appreciated this more if I had an attachment to Gene Kelly and Audrey Hepburn? Probably. But that didn’t stop me from absolutely swooning into oblivion. Especially every time Liam blushed. I was also weak in the knees every time a pun was delivered. Word play is my soul food. I also love that Evie’s character gives insight into life with endometriosis. Torie doesn’t paint a pretty picture either; she gives a raw, uncensored look into life with chronic illness. We need more of that in romance. If you enjoyed books like Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert, The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez, and Always Only You by Chloe Liese then you might want this on your tbr.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Chronic illness, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Pregnancy and Toxic relationship
Minor: Abandonment, Infertility, Sexual content, Vomit, Bullying, and Injury/Injury detail
kylakahrin's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
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
5.0
“I exist in a state of perpetual pain, and I’ve had to accept that to survive—it’d be nice if others acknowledged and were okay with it. Otherwise, the guilt and anxiety of being “a downer” are put on me too.”
I’ve frequently noted that books have made me feel seen. This was no exception. In fact, I think it’s my new baseline for having my feelings sucked from my brain and put to paper. Finding Gene Kelly lives inside my heart now.
Our main character Evie lives with the same chronic illness that I do: endometriosis. She also loves Gene Kelly and Audrey Hepburn movies, misses her Nana who passed away when she was 12, and loves to bake. She left Tallow, Massachusetts, and moved to Paris to become a pastry chef and open a patisserie but her flare ups make it so that she has to put her dreams on the back burner. Back in Tallow, she left behind her lifelong crush, the boy she married at 5 years old, Liam Kelly, who loved her Nana and her movies and knew her just about as well as she knew herself. She hasn’t seen or heard from him since she left for Paris.
And in true romcom fashion, he shows up unexpectedly outside her favorite donut shop. Chaos ensues and true feelings rise to the surface. She wants him gone but she also needs a believable date for her brother’s wedding so her horrible mother will get off her case about not being married or having children yet. With a plan to fake date at the wedding set, Evie and Liam spend the time before the wedding facing uncomfortable truths and surviving through flare ups.
The endo (and general chronic illness) representation in this book blew me away. There were multiple passages that I had to take a break after reading because they were so real and exactly what I’ve experienced. It was a heavy read, to say the least. My favorite thing about this book was that Evie is seen as a desirable friend and partner even with her endo. Her mother and a few petty acquaintances are constantly bringing her down for having endometriosis, as if she chose to have an incurable, debilitating, lifelong disease. But her real friends and her love interest love her and support her through flare ups.
I can’t wait for this to release so I can scream at everyone I know to buy it and read it and love it. Torie Jean wrote my illness so beautifully and accurately so I have to return the favor by being this book's #1 fan. 5 cheez wiz colored⭐️
Thank you Netgalley and Sunset and Camden Creative for the eARC for me to read and honestly review!! You’ve sent me my new favorite book!
The content warnings being listed at beginning of the book were a HUGE plus! CW: chronic health, endometriosis, massively toxic mother, discussions of infertility, on-page vomiting
I’ve frequently noted that books have made me feel seen. This was no exception. In fact, I think it’s my new baseline for having my feelings sucked from my brain and put to paper. Finding Gene Kelly lives inside my heart now.
Our main character Evie lives with the same chronic illness that I do: endometriosis. She also loves Gene Kelly and Audrey Hepburn movies, misses her Nana who passed away when she was 12, and loves to bake. She left Tallow, Massachusetts, and moved to Paris to become a pastry chef and open a patisserie but her flare ups make it so that she has to put her dreams on the back burner. Back in Tallow, she left behind her lifelong crush, the boy she married at 5 years old, Liam Kelly, who loved her Nana and her movies and knew her just about as well as she knew herself. She hasn’t seen or heard from him since she left for Paris.
And in true romcom fashion, he shows up unexpectedly outside her favorite donut shop. Chaos ensues and true feelings rise to the surface. She wants him gone but she also needs a believable date for her brother’s wedding so her horrible mother will get off her case about not being married or having children yet. With a plan to fake date at the wedding set, Evie and Liam spend the time before the wedding facing uncomfortable truths and surviving through flare ups.
The endo (and general chronic illness) representation in this book blew me away. There were multiple passages that I had to take a break after reading because they were so real and exactly what I’ve experienced. It was a heavy read, to say the least. My favorite thing about this book was that Evie is seen as a desirable friend and partner even with her endo. Her mother and a few petty acquaintances are constantly bringing her down for having endometriosis, as if she chose to have an incurable, debilitating, lifelong disease. But her real friends and her love interest love her and support her through flare ups.
I can’t wait for this to release so I can scream at everyone I know to buy it and read it and love it. Torie Jean wrote my illness so beautifully and accurately so I have to return the favor by being this book's #1 fan. 5 cheez wiz colored⭐️
Thank you Netgalley and Sunset and Camden Creative for the eARC for me to read and honestly review!! You’ve sent me my new favorite book!
The content warnings being listed at beginning of the book were a HUGE plus! CW: chronic health, endometriosis, massively toxic mother, discussions of infertility, on-page vomiting
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness
Moderate: Infertility, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
josephinecatherine's review against another edition
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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Disclaimer: I was given an ARC of this release by the author in return for my honest opinion and review.
This is an Own Voices review for endometriosis representation.
I was in love at first sight (sigh of the dedication and the content warnings).
Over a year ago, I ventured into a university project which was entirely self-inflicted. The unit I was taking focused on disability and inclusivity and the coordinator asked us to create an assignment which related to the unit theme in some way. As an avid romance reader and person with disability, I decided to read the good, the bad, and the ugly of romance novels with disability representation.
The ten books I read largely fell into the ‘bad’ or ‘ugly’ category and left me feeling rather pessimistic. Even books I classified as ‘good’ were limited in their representation of my disability experience. I believe many sufferers of chronic pain will relate to the wider chronic pain and disability experience, but ache to feel drawn with detail. Detail that is not simply the pages of our medical history. Endometriosis is nowhere in romance books. In saying this, I discount those instances wherein endometriosis is used as a throwaway plot point to explain infertility or miscarriage. It is never explored or defined in a manner representative of most endo-sufferers. It is, in those cases, simply a means to justify tragedy by one’s own body.
As a young woman who is in daily pain, Finding Gene Kelly is a lifeline. I was diagnosed with endometriosis when I was 14 years old. Six years later, I am still learning how to navigate a life shadowed my condition. In order to picture myself as a romance novel heroine, I must omit endometriosis from my character background. It is another way in which my invisible disability remains invisible. I want to give my fourteen-year-old self a copy of this book before her diagnosis. I want that girl to have known that spending half your high school in hospital does not deem you in any way ‘unlovable’.
This could have easily been an angst-filled romance novel which represented the darkness of endometriosis. Torie Jean’s decision to lean against the inherently dark content was an expert one. I admit my hesitation when I saw a pink cartoon cover attached to the tag ‘endometriosis representation’. I thought that my condition could never be represented authentically in a romantic comedy, or any romance with ‘soft’ connotations. I never imagined an endometriosis romance could take place in the City of Lights as opposed to my hospital room...of fluorescent lights. I will forever be grateful to Torie Jean for proving me wrong.
Romance comes from your partner noticing the timer on your heat pack. Romance is being recognised for your strength when you feel your most fragile. Romance is writhing in pain but being held. Romance is being loved through pain with words and with actions.
For Evie, Liam is her Gene Kelly. This book, however, shows every Endowarrior (and disabled person) that we will not only experience love platonically, nor will we only experience romance through a television or book. We will find our Gene Kelly. A person who we love and who loves us in return.
The book not only explores romantic relationships, nor does it explore chronic pain from a purely romantic lens. It explores how endometriosis bleeds (pun intended) into every part of life.
Moments of celebration are simultaneously moments of pain.
The realities of pacing.
Surrendering to your body.
The anger, the sadness, the isolation, the self-loathing.
The pregnancy announcements.
The fatigue.
The nausea.
The bloating.
The brain fog.
The feeling out of control… constantly.
The relationships with family.
The relationships with friends.
The perseverance.
The constant decisions (if I take this medication now, I can’t do this, but if I don’t take it now etc).
This book could have been written had it not been for the author’s lived experience. You can feel the pain through these pages, but you can also feel the power. No one else can articulate the endometriosis experience like endometriosis sufferers can. Torie Jean writing this book has taken her pain and given us her heart. This would have been physically and emotionally draining, and yet I am grateful. I never thought this book would exist. If I did, I thought it would be my own.
This book made me cry and I am so glad that they were mostly happy tears. Happy because this book even exists. It hugged me through a flare up and understood. Torie – thank you for showing me my story can exist outside the tragedy genre. I wish I were more eloquent in my gratitude, but I look forward to seeing you grow. Thank you.
This is an Own Voices review for endometriosis representation.
I was in love at first sight (sigh of the dedication and the content warnings).
Over a year ago, I ventured into a university project which was entirely self-inflicted. The unit I was taking focused on disability and inclusivity and the coordinator asked us to create an assignment which related to the unit theme in some way. As an avid romance reader and person with disability, I decided to read the good, the bad, and the ugly of romance novels with disability representation.
The ten books I read largely fell into the ‘bad’ or ‘ugly’ category and left me feeling rather pessimistic. Even books I classified as ‘good’ were limited in their representation of my disability experience. I believe many sufferers of chronic pain will relate to the wider chronic pain and disability experience, but ache to feel drawn with detail. Detail that is not simply the pages of our medical history. Endometriosis is nowhere in romance books. In saying this, I discount those instances wherein endometriosis is used as a throwaway plot point to explain infertility or miscarriage. It is never explored or defined in a manner representative of most endo-sufferers. It is, in those cases, simply a means to justify tragedy by one’s own body.
As a young woman who is in daily pain, Finding Gene Kelly is a lifeline. I was diagnosed with endometriosis when I was 14 years old. Six years later, I am still learning how to navigate a life shadowed my condition. In order to picture myself as a romance novel heroine, I must omit endometriosis from my character background. It is another way in which my invisible disability remains invisible. I want to give my fourteen-year-old self a copy of this book before her diagnosis. I want that girl to have known that spending half your high school in hospital does not deem you in any way ‘unlovable’.
This could have easily been an angst-filled romance novel which represented the darkness of endometriosis. Torie Jean’s decision to lean against the inherently dark content was an expert one. I admit my hesitation when I saw a pink cartoon cover attached to the tag ‘endometriosis representation’. I thought that my condition could never be represented authentically in a romantic comedy, or any romance with ‘soft’ connotations. I never imagined an endometriosis romance could take place in the City of Lights as opposed to my hospital room...of fluorescent lights. I will forever be grateful to Torie Jean for proving me wrong.
Romance comes from your partner noticing the timer on your heat pack. Romance is being recognised for your strength when you feel your most fragile. Romance is writhing in pain but being held. Romance is being loved through pain with words and with actions.
For Evie, Liam is her Gene Kelly. This book, however, shows every Endowarrior (and disabled person) that we will not only experience love platonically, nor will we only experience romance through a television or book. We will find our Gene Kelly. A person who we love and who loves us in return.
The book not only explores romantic relationships, nor does it explore chronic pain from a purely romantic lens. It explores how endometriosis bleeds (pun intended) into every part of life.
Moments of celebration are simultaneously moments of pain.
The realities of pacing.
Surrendering to your body.
The anger, the sadness, the isolation, the self-loathing.
The pregnancy announcements.
The fatigue.
The nausea.
The bloating.
The brain fog.
The feeling out of control… constantly.
The relationships with family.
The relationships with friends.
The perseverance.
The constant decisions (if I take this medication now, I can’t do this, but if I don’t take it now etc).
This book could have been written had it not been for the author’s lived experience. You can feel the pain through these pages, but you can also feel the power. No one else can articulate the endometriosis experience like endometriosis sufferers can. Torie Jean writing this book has taken her pain and given us her heart. This would have been physically and emotionally draining, and yet I am grateful. I never thought this book would exist. If I did, I thought it would be my own.
This book made me cry and I am so glad that they were mostly happy tears. Happy because this book even exists. It hugged me through a flare up and understood. Torie – thank you for showing me my story can exist outside the tragedy genre. I wish I were more eloquent in my gratitude, but I look forward to seeing you grow. Thank you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Infertility, Ableism, Pregnancy, Body shaming, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Vomit and Toxic friendship
Tense relationship with mother
More...