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jackieyvette's review against another edition
- 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
The conversations regarding Aiden's sexuality were done so well too which was surprising to me because rarely ever do contemporary modern romances speak about LGBTQ+ people and spaces with the care and respect it deserves. Also, the leads being 48/50 was such a good call. Nothing blander than a late twenties/early thirties romance. Newsflash people, older people fall in love too!
Graphic: Biphobia, Cursing, Homophobia, Outing, and Toxic friendship
mels_reading_log's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
This is a friends to lovers romance where the people in the couple are 50ish year old introverts who met through an online gaming guild. I love a romance novel that gives me a couple that’s not just young, hot and cis! This book is all about accepting yourself and finding your people who will love you no matter what.
Graphic: Biphobia, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Outing, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Grief and Injury/Injury detail
claire_riach's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Biphobia, Homophobia, and Outing
Minor: Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Acephobia/Arophobia
amberlfaris's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Biphobia and Homophobia
Moderate: Abandonment
sunnyd76's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Biphobia, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Acephobia/Arophobia
literaryintersections's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Overall a great read.
Graphic: Biphobia and Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Abandonment
annahamburger's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Biphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Outing
Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Racism, Violence, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
sdupont's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Biphobia, Homophobia, and Outing
Moderate: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Acephobia/Arophobia
Minor: Racism and Car accident
bibliomania_express's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I absolutely loved Maggie and Aiden and their slow-burn romance. Maggie deals with social anxiety and introversion, but she's also fierce and unafraid to be herself. She tells off so many people in this book and I absolutely loved it. Especially the scene at the wedding. And Aiden - he's so kind and thoughtful, but had been shit on by his family for so long. He tries to do well by his horrid, homophobic mother, and I was cheering for him as he learned to be more assertive.
This book also shows how much knowledge can help people struggling with their identities. Aiden is on the ace spectrum, but he has frequently felt like something is wrong with him since he didn't have the label. Yardley does a fantastic job showing how much having the language to speak about himself means to Aiden, even in his early fifties.
This book has been on my radar for a while now, so I'm glad I finally picked it up.
Some content warnings for homophobia/biphobia/acephobia (all challenged by the text), misogyny (also challenged), discussions of hospice care and elder care.
Graphic: Biphobia and Acephobia/Arophobia
Moderate: Dementia
Minor: Cancer, Car accident, and Death of parent
amy_in_the_city's review against another edition
- 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
As someone on the ace spectrum, I appreciated that this book had a main character, especially an older character, discovering that they were demisexual. However, the book got some things wrong about asexuality. At one point, Maggie explains that "Ace is also called 'graysexual.'" A quick Google search would have confirmed that those two terms don't mean the same thing and that "graysexual" is actually just one of many different types of asexuality. It's clear from other terms used in explaining asexuality that the author did research various terminology. It just seems like she got confused at some point with a couple of terms, but I wish there had been a sensitivity reader or an editor that could have caught this before it made it into the final book. I also thought Aiden seemed pretty clearly demiromantic as well, but this was never brought up and his demiromantic traits were lumped in with his demisexual traits. Terminology issues aside, I thought the demisexuality was represented well, and Aiden felt authentically demi in how he experienced the world and in how he reacted to learning there was a word for how he was.
Overall, this was a cute romance, and I had a great time reading it!
Graphic: Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Outing
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Grief, Car accident, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Alcohol