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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
Oh my god. The author was diagnosed through this book with autism spectrum disorder. At age 34! This made me like this book a little more. This was a beautiful journey, made a little bit more beautiful now that I know this book is very close to Helen Hoang’s heart
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved this book. It was a cute story, might be a bit insta love, but I also feel like that just happens sometimes. The autism representation felt very real, also how she felt about it, but I loved that it didn't make a difference at all for Michael (because why would it). I might not have autism (as far as I know), but there were quite some things about Stella that really resonated with me, and I felt seen in some things that I normally don't really. I liked Stella and Michael's chemistry, and just really enjoyed this book.
challenging
emotional
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:
Complicated
funny
reflective
fast-paced
I really liked that book and the characters. The style is awesome, though I prefer reading apicy scenes in English (I read the Polish version). I will defonotely read more Helen Hoang's books in the future.
‘That means you love me’
‘That’s right. It’s economics’
And you expect me NOT to cry?????????????????????????? Ok
‘That’s right. It’s economics’
And you expect me NOT to cry?????????????????????????? Ok
lighthearted
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:
Complicated
as an autistic adult, being inside an autistic protag’s head while they battle through their internalized ableism was not the light hearted romance experience i signed up for. i think i would have preferred for Stella to just be autistic coded instead. I didn’t see almost any autistic joy, only autistic struggles.
i feel like the author used autism to make Stella fill out the “helpless dainty lady” trope more fully in a lot of areas. They also infantilized Stella by making her tiny, innocent, doe-eyed, soft spoken, etc. At the end of the day even though they reverse-pretty-woman-ed the base plot, it’s still big tough hot experienced muscly man w trauma takes care of tiny innocent helpless virginal protag who just doesn’t know how to get along in life until his sex heals her of her autistic traits. big yikes.
I like the concept of this book (the reverse pretty woman, not the sex-heals-autism angle) but I think this is the wattpad version and I wanted the leather bound barnes and noble special edition — after three rounds of editors and sensitivity experts pick it over.
also let’s not brush over the fact that all of Stella’s sexual encounters before Michael were instances of r*pe and that Phillip has racked up at least two counts of workplace s*xual harassment and one workplace assault in regard to Stella. be prepared for the author to skim over these and never call them what they are, process emotion regarding them, or call for justice. Just some possessive boyfriend anger is good enough.
i feel like the author used autism to make Stella fill out the “helpless dainty lady” trope more fully in a lot of areas. They also infantilized Stella by making her tiny, innocent, doe-eyed, soft spoken, etc. At the end of the day even though they reverse-pretty-woman-ed the base plot, it’s still big tough hot experienced muscly man w trauma takes care of tiny innocent helpless virginal protag who just doesn’t know how to get along in life until his sex heals her of her autistic traits. big yikes.
I like the concept of this book (the reverse pretty woman, not the sex-heals-autism angle) but I think this is the wattpad version and I wanted the leather bound barnes and noble special edition — after three rounds of editors and sensitivity experts pick it over.
also let’s not brush over the fact that all of Stella’s sexual encounters before Michael were instances of r*pe and that Phillip has racked up at least two counts of workplace s*xual harassment and one workplace assault in regard to Stella. be prepared for the author to skim over these and never call them what they are, process emotion regarding them, or call for justice. Just some possessive boyfriend anger is good enough.