Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - The Romantic Agenda

Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

The Romantic Agenda by Claire Kann

23 reviews

ashylibrarian's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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

4.25

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bookishmillennial's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative 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? No

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

Fake dating was my favorite trope for a while & I hadn’t read any books with it in so long until this one! This also really felt reminiscent of a 90s romcom with the messiness and goofiness of that era, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Joy has loved her best friend Malcolm forever, but when he divulges that he’s found “the one” in Summer, she is understandably heartbroken. Joy and Malcolm met at the lgbtia+ club at school, with him teaching her what asexual meant & her realizing that it described her feelings about sex! Joy always found comfort in the fact that they shared this experience, and sort of closed herself off to the possibility of finding companionship or romance with anyone else. She had become comfortable with her and Malcolm’s dynamic and never questioned it or pondered if she could pursue romance.

Fox (Summer’s bestie) was a lovely love interest for her, and after they pretend to fall for each other during a weekend away, Joy begins to ruminate on new, surprising possibilities! I loved the build up to their romance and how Fox not only called Joy in (when it came to the unspoken issues she had with her friendship with Malcolm), but he also invited her to consider a life beyond Malcolm. It wasn’t about “oh you just haven’t found the right person,” which is an aro/acephobic thing to assume; it was moreso, “You’re too close to see that he doesn’t feel the way you do, and that’s not okay for him to use you for constant emotional labor.” I am sure there’s a more eloquent way to frame this, but I really admired that Fox was brave and compassionate in presenting this information to Joy.

This was such a lovely story to read, and I will absolutely be checking out more of Claire Kann’s work!

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victoriapatella's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I have never read a romance book like this, and it was refreshing. I related a lot to Joy when it came to hesitance for pursuing a romantic relationship due to the fear of the partner not feeling fully satisfied. I also understand having a person, your person. Someone who understands you so deeply that you don’t believe anyone will ever compare. Someone who you love so much that you feel like any potential romantic partner would always come second to them. I related to this so hard that it was kind of scary reading it because that meant at least one other person also has felt this way. I know I’m going to contradict myself a bit in the next paragraph, but I really appreciated how Joy always spoken her mind, too. She always communicated how she felt, and expected the same in return. She didn’t accept being treated unfairly or having things being left unspoken. I don’t know if it was intentional by the author, but it seemed to me that Joy was on the autism spectrum.

This all being said, I really hate the miscommunication trope. While I do understand using miscommunication to build up angst (and I love me some angst), this miscommunication between Malcolm and Joy lasted the entire book. And I understand it was supposed to be ironic that Joy can clearly communicate with everyone else except Malcolm, but I found the difference too drastic to really be convincing.

When Malcolm and Joy finally have The Conversation, I was still left unsatisfied. I also didn’t see enough of Malcolm and Summer’s relationship to feel convinced they truly belonged together. Maybe that’s the point, but it still felt frustrating to me.

I loooooved Fox though. A boy who is grumpy to everyone except The One? Sign me up. And the silver hair? Absolutely.

Overall, I really appreciated the ace (and possibly autism) representation, I just wish there was less miscommunication.

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angelfireeast24's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense 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

4.75

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sailormoony's review

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emotional tense 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

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takarakei's review against another edition

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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

3.5

ACE main character(s)
MC is in love with her bff
kind of a blind date set up (sort of)

It was actually interesting to read a nonfiction book about ACE representation (by Angela Chen) at the same time of reading this. I think that really informed my own ability to understand Joy as a main character. This book reminded me of that movie 27 dresses (only in the like pining after someone kind of off limits and then falling for someone unexpected). The pining over Joy's bff was a bit much at times, and while I did really like the eventual ending it felt a bit convoluted. I cannot speak to the ACE representation myself and if it was done well (and every ACE person's experience is unique), but there were many things echoed from the nonfiction read in this book, so it seemed well done to me...

3/5🌶️

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chaoticnostalgia's review

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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

4.5

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rickireadss's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

i loved so much about this!!! i loved how kann used joy and malcolm to show how asexuality is a spectrum and is not the same for everyone. i learned a lot about asexuality in this and just loved that! joy’s character was AH-MAZING!! she was hella confident, hilarious, and just so cool. and FOX?!?! i love that white man 😌 he was so grumpy and every “hmm” he did had me panting like a pavlov dog 🥵🤭 i do wish we had more of their relationship rather than it just being at the end, but i loved everything we got to see at the lake house. i will say that malcolm and summer could just f*ck off. i don’t like either of them - i didn’t hated malcolm more so.

⚠️: acephobia/arophobia, panic attacks/disorders, racism, mental illness, car accident, death of friend, religious bigotry

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arireadsitall's review

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Joy has been in love with Malcolm since they bonded over identifying as asexual. Problem is she is stuck in that friend zone no matter how hard she tries. When Malcolm suggests a weekend away, she sees it as her in. Until he invites his new love interest Summer and her friend Fox. Joy and Fox team up for a little fake dating to make Malcolm jealous but through it she finds he may not be the only one she feels things for.

To say Joy was a literal joy of a character would be an understatement. She’s confident and bold and the perfect sunshine counterpart for Fox’s grumpy. I liked that this book took the time to explore boundaries and how there are ways to love someone aside from being physical. Fox was truly such a swoon worthy man for his care and time learning about Joy and what it means to be ace. He was the perfect counterpart to the not so great Malcolm… aka my least favorite part of this story.

This is a fun beach read that’ll make you laugh, smile, and want to push Malcolm off a boat lol.

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mmefish's review

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I needed something to get me out of reading slump and this one did the trick.
The romance was cute (?) I'm not a big contemporary romance person. I also don't like reading paragraphs describing outfits the MC picked up, or how many followers she has on Instagram, or how beautiful she thought she was. Honestly, I'd say this particular book fits into Chick lit category.
The characters were fine but — being 30 years old — they couldn't communicate for shit.
I appreciated the Ace representation.

P.S. what's up with these names?! Joy, Summer, Fox... and Malcolm.

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