Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Truly Forbidden by L.J. Shen

20 reviews

medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character

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dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I enjoyed 80% of this, but the ending kind of tanked. It felt very rushed and felt like a lot of details got brushed over to jump to HEA. 

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emotional hopeful medium-paced
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

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emotional medium-paced

Pretty solid book, with complex characters and relationships all around. Definitely a lot of drama as well, but also some fun and even funny moments.

Cal was not like other girls, but not in a "not like other girls" way. She was different, but not in a trying to be quirky way... It was mostly because of her social anxiety and child of immigrants experience. Things that also got her singled out in negative ways... even if Row saw her as unique and loved her for it. I hated some of the choices Cal made sometimes, but she was a very believable character so I understood them.

Row felt a little less developed, which made his aggressive grumpiness sort of jarring at first, but when you learned more of his backstory it did start to round him out as well.

Overall, I had a pretty good time with their love story. Sometimes I just wanted them to hurry up and get out of their own way, but the pacing was generally pretty good. The side characters were also compelling and added nice depth and levity at times (*very excited for the next book with
Dylan and Rhy!
).

Definitely CWs to be aware of, descriptions of past events but described fairly explicitly (
sexual harassment,  physical and psychological/emotional abuse, bullying, violence, bodily injury resulting from assault x2
)... pretty much all of this happens within one chapter (Chapter 35) with the exception of one instance. Also, general discussion and depiction of androphobia... which was something I had to google but may be triggering for people who know it and experience it.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional funny hopeful 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: Complicated

Truly Madly Deeply is haunting. It is romantic and devastating, warm and chilling. It portrays the intense connection of soulmates, while also navigating the cruelty of, frankly, psychopaths.

Dot and Row are perfectly imperfect characters, each of them deeply flawed while also full of heart. Their love story was frustrating and emotional and worthy. It was difficult to see the two of them fight what was obvious for so long. I felt like they should both have very easily been able to understand what the other was thinking but really never seemed to until the end when they were apart.

Dylan is such a fun character and I’m crossing my fingers that the next book in the series is hers so we can see her get her Happy Ever After. I’d also love to know why she picked that name. No spoilers but… what?

Allison Murphy, I hope pops up in later books too purely so we can see
more of
her downfall. 

Overall, a dark romance that will give you chills in both the best and worst ways. 

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The narration is great and thankfully so since this is longer than I normally like to listen to. I'm unsure of how I feel about this one overall. Given the length of this book, I personally liked how we got enough time to get to know each character fully and get to understand them individually and as a couple. There were certain parts that make my inner feminist really struggle to keep listening but I was invested in how things would turn out. The spicy parts were to me, cringe at best and not really done well in my opinion. I did like the small town setting and the glimpses into NY and London. 

Lots of trigger warnings for this one do keep that in mind if you choose to dive into this book.

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emotional hopeful fast-paced
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

Growing up Cal was always awkward and quirky and Roe was her best friend’s older brother. He was popular and gorgeous and always there for Cal. Now that they are adults he is a world famous Michelin Star chef, known for his bad boy attitude and even better looks. When they bump back into each other and get reacquainted it seems there was a lot that Cal did not know about Roe and their childhood. This book had my heart breaking and swooning and was so steamy and full of love. 

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced
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

Absolutely loved the songs for the chapters that were meant to represent the feel for them. 🎶 The audiobook mentions each song for the chapters, but they are all listed in the beginning of the book. Some bangers that I love on there for sure. 

A perfect example of grumpy / sunshine with a bit of heartbreak, quick banter, misunderstandings, and Gordon Ramsey attitude. Although, from what I’ve noticed even Gordon is a golden retriever when it comes to his wife and kids. Really enjoyed this one. 

Although I wanted to smack the FMC upside the head for being clueless and stubborn, I still enjoyed it. The chatting was a fun throwback to when it was popular to do that in online chat rooms. You meet some interesting people there. 

What to expect in this book:

Dual POV
BFF’s Brother hook up
FMC with PTSD 
He was her first and only
Childhood Crush
He fell first
Touch her and die
Bully trauma 
Master Chef with attitude 
Grumpy sunshine
Golden Retriever for her, Police Dog for anyone else 
Slow burn 
Wicked banter 
Spice 



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funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

Teddy Hamilton could read me the dictionary and I’d be enthralled - add in the fact that it was a grumpy sunshine CHEF romance!? Love. 

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