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abidavisf's review
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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? It's complicated
4.0
Phew, Elle Kennedy does it again. I’ve not seen myself in one of her protagonists quite as much as I do in Taylor. I’m flawed. The Dare was healing for me, eye-opening and really quite surreal.
As always, the spice and the banter was on point, and Elle navigated really tricky topics with grace. The shining star, however, is definitely Taylor’s insecurities and the way we get to see how the rest of the world truly sees her. I wish I could read the minds of the people around me like we got to read Conor’s.
As always, the spice and the banter was on point, and Elle navigated really tricky topics with grace. The shining star, however, is definitely Taylor’s insecurities and the way we get to see how the rest of the world truly sees her. I wish I could read the minds of the people around me like we got to read Conor’s.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Drug use, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Lesbophobia, Classism, Sexual harassment, and Homophobia
Minor: Death of parent, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Outing
itsamylynne's review
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Body shaming
Minor: Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Outing, and Homophobia
haley49's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book was a mess but I enjoyed it. All the conflicts were melodramic, the mid/plus-size rep was hit or miss, and there wasn’t enough groveling in my opinion—but I ate up all the tropes. Conor and Taylor were sweet leads who pretended they didn’t have golden retriever energy when together. There were some laughing moments and some good cameos from previous installments in the Briar U series. (No off-campus ones) When he wasn’t being stupid, I adored Conor as a love interest. He is the sweetest. Probably my favorite Briar U boy??? (There is something about boy #4 in Elle Kennedy series lol) I recommend—if you can withstand the some representation issues and second hand embarrassment. The fat rep is with the main character who is bullied for her looks throughout her life, specifically by her sorority sister, but it really impacts her self-esteem and its her main source if inner conflict. At no point in the story does her love interest think about her looks or weight with any negativity but there are several points in which she jumps to conclusions, even when irrelevant, about her weight being a problem. Her love interest continually reassures her but at times it does feel like the she-needs-male-validation-to-feel-beautiful trope. She is also heavily sexualized with her weight, particularly with regards to her boobs. If any of that would seriously bother you, this isn’t your book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Toxic friendship, and Sexism
Minor: Drug use and Outing
xlaurareads's review
emotional
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? Yes
3.5
neither the best nor the worst of the series, it was okayish. i totally enjoyed reading it and i love conor like a lot! however, as much as i could relate to taylor at some points and was sympathizing with her a lot, it annoyed be that elle kennedy decided that her only personality trait is hating her body. oh and ofc she had to be bullied and body-shamed bc of her weight. also, i think there was so much unnecessary drama and excuse me but NOT the miscommunication trope TWICE in such a short amount of time. didn't do it for me, nope nope nope. to add to that, i feel like con and taylor barely ever talked about anything? idk just felt like there was a total lack of communication there as a whole and everything was very surface-leveled. moreover, the whole plot climax was just so...annoying, unnecessary, didn't do any good to the story?! very much didn't like that. nevertheless, i did enjoy reading the book, i like their relationship, con is the sweetest dude ever and it was a nice and light read. just the fact that elle kennedy can't write a plus-size character very well and the plot climax didn't do it for me ugh.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Body shaming, and Sexual content
Moderate: Outing
mardorko's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
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? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Outing, Body shaming, and Sexual content
perrystranger's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Outing, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
Triggerwarning and spoiler revengeporn and blackmailsierrachenee's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
3.5
I only rate it that high because Conor Edwards is a treasure and I love him. I didn’t care much about him in other books but him in this book could have easily made it one of my favorites in the series. This book had some of the worst most infuriating things in all 8 off campus/briar u books however.
Taylor was great. I liked her a lot. I just did not appreciate how she was written. Taylor is a curvy girl and every chapter it is brought up how insecure she is about it. Conor is constantly reassuring her and it just becomes grating. At some point you have to find that confidence within yourself and not rely on a guy for it. A persons weight should not be written as their personality trait. Having some mentions does make sense but the sheer amount was absolutely appalling. Even my precious boy Conor made a comment putting down skinny bodies in the book. Like why
I’m also not a big fan of how one of the only gay characters in the whole series just had to go through a traumatic moment near the end that really didn’t need to happen at all.
On top of that I just hate miscommunication so having it happen twice in a short span was aggravating. Taylor and Conor could have been great and they really did have a lot in common and worked on the same wave length so there was no reason for it.
The lows in this book were so low but the highs were also really high too.
Conor already started off great. He is a big sweetheart, respectful, funny, laidback, and just an all around decent person. He manages to grow so much in the book and it made me so happy to see. He deserves the best.
I also loved seeing Coach finally get some romance in his life. It was long over due and hilarious.
Conor also has some of the better interactions with all of the guys in the Briar U series and seems to be friends with them where as previous books it could be more disjointed. It didn’t have as much hockey sadly but it was nice to see otherwise.
Taylor was great. I liked her a lot. I just did not appreciate how she was written. Taylor is a curvy girl and every chapter it is brought up how insecure she is about it. Conor is constantly reassuring her and it just becomes grating. At some point you have to find that confidence within yourself and not rely on a guy for it. A persons weight should not be written as their personality trait. Having some mentions does make sense but the sheer amount was absolutely appalling. Even my precious boy Conor made a comment putting down skinny bodies in the book. Like why
I’m also not a big fan of how one of the only gay characters in the whole series just had to go through a traumatic moment near the end that really didn’t need to happen at all.
On top of that I just hate miscommunication so having it happen twice in a short span was aggravating. Taylor and Conor could have been great and they really did have a lot in common and worked on the same wave length so there was no reason for it.
The lows in this book were so low but the highs were also really high too.
Conor already started off great. He is a big sweetheart, respectful, funny, laidback, and just an all around decent person. He manages to grow so much in the book and it made me so happy to see. He deserves the best.
I also loved seeing Coach finally get some romance in his life. It was long over due and hilarious.
Conor also has some of the better interactions with all of the guys in the Briar U series and seems to be friends with them where as previous books it could be more disjointed. It didn’t have as much hockey sadly but it was nice to see otherwise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Homophobia, Fatphobia, and Outing
clarayumi's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Body shaming
Minor: Outing
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