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4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
emotional
inspiring
reflective
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
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
fast-paced
More of a guilty pleasure beach read than I’d expected. Self indulgent and not that well written, but the protagonists do win you over a bit.
With such an intriguing premise, I had high hopes for this. The narrator’s view of herself in the first 2/3 of the book was just…. sad. The final third was more of what I had in mind. Overall: this needed less Sebastian and more Hugo.
Cried a lot in a good way. I'm inspired to live my life. Even tho the coincidences and synchronicities helped the plot along, some of them felt forced. I still totally bought in tho. I felt very protective of Clover and was scared she was going to keep getting hurt but the ending is hopeful.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent
It was great to see a death doula treated as a legitimate profession. I liked the humanity of Clover and struggles to grow throughout the novel.
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I struggled knowing where to rate this one. I found that the character of Clover was incredibly relatable to my own life- at least who I was a few years ago. I also relate to the desire to talk more openly about death- something that comes from the death of my own father but also the few years I spent as a volunteer with a grief support group for children. And the comparison between opening yourself up to romantic love and grief -choosing to love is choosing to also eventually have the loss it will bring (either in heartbreak or in eventual separation from death). It brought to the forefront of my mind some difficult emotions and things to process- which I think is a good thing. But I also found much of Clovers romantic situation to be unrealistic- (spoiler-ish): the minute she decides she can open herself up to romance- someone absolutely perfect is right there. That bothers me- but I guess it makes a good fiction story. So we land at a 4- rounded up from a 3.5 from me. Liked it, sparked some thoughts and emotional processing I need- but the book itself was a little short of ‘great’ for me. Worth a read for sure though.