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thirdeyeangel23's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
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
3.75
Another fun rom-com from Amy Lea, but could’ve earned a higher rating. Exes and Oh’s follows Tara, a bookish influencer and nurse who is infatuated with romance. After moving in with her soon to be brother in law’s best friend Trevor, Tara begins to document her quest to manufacture her own second chance romance by reconnecting with her exes. This story was a fun ride, but I also felt this truly needed to have Trevor’s pov. Trevor is an incredibly closed off character that quickly puts himself into the friend zone with Tara and essentially makes himself her wingman. I absolutely loved their budding friendship, but with the train wreck that was Tara’s exes we didn’t really get any romance until the end. Sometimes I forgot Trevor was the love interest in any capacity. This was a great story but also one of the few I felt needed an extra voice.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Gaslighting, and Medical content
Minor: Death and Death of parent
dailbrae's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Chronic illness, and Stalking
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Death
jazzy_t's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Started reading this and then took a pause and then finished it following a break up which did add a different flavour to the book 😅
A really lovely message to this book, about being your 100% authentic self. I enjoyed Tara and Trevors development through the book, making you really care for them, especially Trevor. Be warned fictional man crush inevitable!
I liked Trevor's character a lot, perfect romance book hero, but Tara I found more difficult to like sometimes. I found some of her character irritating and a little unrealistic. And found myself frustrated with her actions.
Although in saying that I still really enjoyed the book, and the character development. Very cute!
A really lovely message to this book, about being your 100% authentic self. I enjoyed Tara and Trevors development through the book, making you really care for them, especially Trevor. Be warned fictional man crush inevitable!
I liked Trevor's character a lot, perfect romance book hero, but Tara I found more difficult to like sometimes. I found some of her character irritating and a little unrealistic. And found myself frustrated with her actions.
Although in saying that I still really enjoyed the book, and the character development. Very cute!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Gaslighting
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
lex_is_bookish's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
beereads_23's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Abandonment
bookishmillennial's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
general disclaimer if you’ve read other reviews by me and are noticing a pattern: You’re correct that I don’t really give starred reviews, I feel like a peasant and don’t like leaving them and most often, I will only leave them if I vehemently despised a book. Thus, no stars doesn’t indicate that the book wasn’t worthy of any starred system. It just means I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all, even if the lesson is that I’m a ho for the smut, recognizing a genre/book/author is not for me, or confronting my own mommy/daddy issues lol. Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Happy reading! Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial
Usually, I love forced proximity and I love a to-do list! Tara --bookstagrammer, so we love her-- has a list of exes that she is revisiting so that she can fulfill a second-chance romance trope and find true love. She also has a new room mate, Trevor, who is a firefighter and coaches her in these interactions and sometimes on her dates! Obviously, they fall for each other instead but it's a very slow burn -- it's very much Gigi & Alex coded from He's Just Not That Into You. Like "omg you're so crazy! How is any guy going to fall in love with you?!" ick.
I just vehemently despise that Trevor made Tara feel like she was the issue, and that she was "too much" so he clearly wasn't my favorite MMC. It was almost as if he was doing her a favor??? I know he was a simp for her by the end but I didn't appreciate that it felt like he was tolerating her (if you're a Swiftie, you know what I'm talking about).
Otherwise, I did think it was a fine fluffy little romance. I liked Tara and I felt for her. I was rooting for her but still think she deserves better than Trevor. I also enjoyed the cameos from Scott & Crystal from book 1!
Steam would be 2/5 because there's not much until the very end but it was still fun! Anyway, again, it wasn't my favorite from Amy Lea but I will absolutely read the next book regardless!
Usually, I love forced proximity and I love a to-do list! Tara --bookstagrammer, so we love her-- has a list of exes that she is revisiting so that she can fulfill a second-chance romance trope and find true love. She also has a new room mate, Trevor, who is a firefighter and coaches her in these interactions and sometimes on her dates! Obviously, they fall for each other instead but it's a very slow burn -- it's very much Gigi & Alex coded from He's Just Not That Into You. Like "omg you're so crazy! How is any guy going to fall in love with you?!" ick.
I just vehemently despise that Trevor made Tara feel like she was the issue, and that she was "too much" so he clearly wasn't my favorite MMC. It was almost as if he was doing her a favor??? I know he was a simp for her by the end but I didn't appreciate that it felt like he was tolerating her (if you're a Swiftie, you know what I'm talking about).
Otherwise, I did think it was a fine fluffy little romance. I liked Tara and I felt for her. I was rooting for her but still think she deserves better than Trevor. I also enjoyed the cameos from Scott & Crystal from book 1!
Steam would be 2/5 because there's not much until the very end but it was still fun! Anyway, again, it wasn't my favorite from Amy Lea but I will absolutely read the next book regardless!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Misogyny, Sexism, and Emotional abuse
kfmcf's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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? Yes
5.0
Listen. Is this book perfect? No. But it made me feel that warm and fuzzy feeling for the majority of it as these characters and their stories in the world of the book developed.
This book is not for people who are plot forward readers. This is a character forward book and that is my favorite. The focus is on who they are and how they're connecting. I also think their chemistry was stellar and believable and I enjoyed it.
People who see Tara as annoying and too clingy are.. just blatantly missing the point of this book. It's a story of her growth of overcoming her own stigmas and reclaiming her definition of sanity. Was she the most mature POV character? No. But if she was then her struggles and flaws would have been wholly unbelievable. The female POV protag doesn't always need to be idyllic or cool or what have you. Having a character with real person personality flaws is good.
There were definitely some issues I had, but they were relatively small. First, the exes being blasted on socials. Like. No. That's a privacy thing and odd. I don't think they would have enjoyed that.
Angie was not a believable child. And Payton telling her *nine year old* that her uncle was like a *revolving door* was unpleasant.
The one thing I do disagree with people on is the miscommunication. Yes it was there but THAT HAPPENS. IN REAL LIFE. And it was only heavy in the last act. And there's a meta comment from Flo about it. It's fine. It's not the greatest but it's BELIEVABLE.
This book is head and shoulders above book 1 in the series and I look forward to Mel's story.
This book is not for people who are plot forward readers. This is a character forward book and that is my favorite. The focus is on who they are and how they're connecting. I also think their chemistry was stellar and believable and I enjoyed it.
People who see Tara as annoying and too clingy are.. just blatantly missing the point of this book. It's a story of her growth of overcoming her own stigmas and reclaiming her definition of sanity. Was she the most mature POV character? No. But if she was then her struggles and flaws would have been wholly unbelievable. The female POV protag doesn't always need to be idyllic or cool or what have you. Having a character with real person personality flaws is good.
There were definitely some issues I had, but they were relatively small. First, the exes being blasted on socials. Like. No. That's a privacy thing and odd. I don't think they would have enjoyed that.
Angie was not a believable child. And Payton telling her *nine year old* that her uncle was like a *revolving door* was unpleasant.
The one thing I do disagree with people on is the miscommunication. Yes it was there but THAT HAPPENS. IN REAL LIFE. And it was only heavy in the last act. And there's a meta comment from Flo about it. It's fine. It's not the greatest but it's BELIEVABLE.
This book is head and shoulders above book 1 in the series and I look forward to Mel's story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Abandonment, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, and Medical content
Minor: Alcohol, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship
afriendwithfiction's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gaslighting
kirareadssometimes's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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? Yes
4.5
This book prob would’ve been a 4.25 until Trevor’s last speech about her bring everyone joy and how she also deserves that. That pushed it to a 4.5 for me. As a person who has been called “over the top” many times in her life, I really connected with Tara. I loved the friends to lovers and grumpy sunshine tropes. I just wish it was dual pov.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content
rebecca_arielle's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Eating disorder, Gaslighting, and Grief